Intercultural Design: Task 3: Research, Reflect & Final Project

 09.02.2022 - 25.02.2022 (Week 6 - Week 8)

Adeline Wong Chyn Nee / 0344017

Intercultural Design / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media

Data Collection

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Research, Reflect, and Final Project

After our data collecting process, we have come to a decision to personify the answers collected from our Google survey form, and from there, we will then put them together and exhibit the personified answers in the form of an art book, in our case, a digital artbook.

Fig. 1.1 Personified Google survey form answers, Google Doc, Week 4 (25/2/22)

1. Message to audience

Through this art book, we want to convey a message to show how the ‘safe haven’ in gaming is a healthy and supportive safe space for gamers’ self-expression. For example, using personas.

Why 'safe haven' you may ask, this culture provides players with a means to enjoy thrills within the comfort of their own home, personas are a common thing of which players develop, this is due to the freedom of expression found online. This concept is there for players to be able to freely express themselves, actions having (most times) little to no consequences, is something most of the general public that does not indulge in the culture do not understand, but should.  

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2. Artbook Development

A. Digital Artbook

Through this final project's outcome, we will be using the website ‘Heyzine’. This website is a highly customizable website that converts PDF files into an online flipping book. 

 

Fig. 2.1 'Heyzine' a free pdf to flipbook converter

We used this method to simulate the book as it was much more environmentally friendly and cost-efficient compared to printing an actual book

Benefits

An art book would prove useful to be able to learn information while viewing art they find pleasing. It is a form of visual communication, as found in data collection, there are many benefits of viewing art and owning art books. 

It's beneficial and efficient for our group!

Utilizing this medium will be more efficient for us as a group as we will be able to divide tasks equally and be able to produce an outcome that is beautiful throughout and full of the insightful information which we have gathered. 

Requirement of the artbook

Page Dimension: 5400pixels x 7200pixels

Our artbook would include illustrations of the personified answers and their rationale, we would need enough space to illustrate as well as layout the text. 

We are to prepare the text of the character we depict, explain their symbols, and why we designed them the way they are. The illustrations are limitless, which means the group members can show anything from concept art to color palettes in their illustrations.

   

Fig. 3.1 Examples of a page's requirements

C. Task Delegation

Since we have 5 group members, we are to split the work equally, which also means each of us gets 2 personified answers to choose from, these are our choice of characters to illustrate for the artbook.

1. Diane- Person 1 & 5
2. Adeline- Person 4 & 7
3. Adena- Person 9 & 10
4. Alicia- Person 2 & 6
5. Min Feng- Person 3 & 8

D. Charcater Origin

These are the mood boards for each of my chosen characters

1) Person 4- Attributing the nature of your avatar to your own behavior???

Fig. 3.2 Examples of a page's requirements

I've decided to go with a cow character I've used for my Discord, it originated from an inside joke some of our group members made, one that exposed me for being a liar. That one inside joke resulted in a changed username and profile picture and from then onwards, I have been reminded of that from looking at my cow profile picture. 

I feel that using that cow character in my profile picture would make sense as the avatar is literally the result of my certain behavior.

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2) Person 7- It is something I can hide behind. It is fun and somehow makes it easier to talk to others, because online, I am just a voice or a chat. No one really knows my face unless I am close to them, which can make it easier to start discussions or even ask questions as normal. I would probably cry out of anxiety when doing so.

Fig. 3.3 Jstris, online multiplayer block game

When I think of times when I can hide behind my screen because no one knows my face, it's got to be when I play 'Jstris', When a game starts, the competitive urge to win rushes through my body, it is a space for me to release my stress whenever I need to. After each round, I would see what or who is in the chat and sometimes I'll even join the chat or discussion which I could never be able to do in real life, because online, I am just a voice or a chat, it gives me the freedom to express that long-suppressed Leo inside of me. 

In this case, I always go by the name of hojikolo or adehojikolo, which I made up randomly one day without knowing if it actually meant anything. It has gone to the point that I have made a Gmail account of that name and used it as my Youtube username. I've always imagined this name to look like someone magnificent and cool, and that someone would somehow look great in purple.

For the purpose of this project, I have finally taken the courage and searched for the actual meaning of this name, hojikolo. Not being afraid of being disappointed I went to Google for answers. 

Hoji: A periodical Buddhist memorial service on behalf of a deceased person.

Kolo: A Spanish slang for the buttocks.

Combine the both and we get "A periodical Buddhist memorial service on buttocks"

I'm glad to say that I am not disappointed but rather proud of the name I randomly decided to go by one day. With that, I carry on with my development with this new information in mind.

E. Moodboard

1) Person 4 (ade not a liar)

Fig. 3.4 Cow art styles and direction

Human-like cow:

Like my chosen character (person 4), I would love the idea of recreating my profile picture as the person, however, I thought of incorporating the literal meaning by turning my cow human-like, like the image on the right, instead of the one in my profile picture which is just a random cow. By doing this, I get to express a variety of expressions with it, just like the expressions I usually would wear on my face when I am lying.

2) Person 7 (Hojikolo)

Fig. 3.5 Hojikolo art styles and direction

Someone magnificent who looks cool in purple:

Like my chosen character (person 7) hojikolo, I would imagine her wearing an intimidating look on her face with traditional clothing to match the Hoji in her name and added elements in the background of the concept illustration for the kolo part of her name.

F. Initial Sketch

Fig. 3.6 ade not a liar and Hojikolo's sketches, Week 6 (8/2/22)

On the 8th of February, I executed my first sketch of the characters following my visual research and mood board. 

9th February 2022:

We had our first meeting after the assigned date to share our progress on our illustrations. We explained our reasons for why our characters look the way they do. We also shared our opinions on each other’s work, providing feedback and support to each other.

Diane and Min Feng both shared their progress in the chat while the rest of us shared our screen.

Fig. 3.7 Progress group call, Week 6 (9/2/22)

G1. Illustration progress 

Fig. 3.8 Progress shared for Hojikolo, Week 7 (12/2/22)

14th February 2022:

After a few days in our next meeting, our group members shared their progress again and this time with our sketches done and some have even written their character's writeups.

Fig. 3.9 Group progress, Week 7 (14/2/22)

Fig. 3.10 Group progress, Week 7 (14/2/22)

G2. Illustration progress 

Fig. 3.11 Progress shared for Hojikolo, Week 7 (20/2/22)

20th February 2022:

Fig. 3.12 Group progress, Week 7 (20/2/22)

Fig. 3.13 Group progress, Week 7 (20/2/22)

Ms. Anis' Feedback:

• Art style can be different however you guys need a consistent layout
• Canva templates are recommended as a tool to accommodate our work

Fig. 3.14 Ms. Anis' Feedback, Week 7 (21/2/22)

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3. Final Illustrations (Person 4, 7 + own persona)

1.

Fig. 4.1 Final Illustration and intro page of Hojikolo, Week 7 (22/2/22)

Some people who in real life are reserved and private can use a persona like Hojikolo as a medium to channel their inner kooky side as they are unable to in real life.

People who use a persona like Hojikolo are unpredictable. Just like how this persona was made out of nowhere, without knowing what it means beforehand. The meaning of this persona was only discovered after quite some time, Hojikolo interprets to ‘a girl who performs periodical Buddhist memorial service of buttocks’.

Unpredictable just like the name, sometimes, they may seem like a quiet person as nothing intrigues them especially, however, they can also be seen having banter with gamers over random things online.

2.

Fig. 4.2 Final Illustration and intro page of ade not a liar, Week 7 (22/2/22)

Unlike most people whose behaviors attribute to their own persona’s behaviors, this persona is the opposite. However not exactly, because this persona channels a specific mood of the user to use online. For example, the constant need to lie.

This persona is a genderless persona that is only shown to close friends, which means the user acts and behaves like how they sometimes would in real life. With the user not having to worry about the judgments of others, they can freely express their side of the story without feeling the need to appear sane or rational, even though they may not be correct about their statement.

3. 

Each of the members is to draw their own persona to include in the flipbook as well.

Fig. 4.3 Final Illustration and intro page of Ade, Week 7 (22/2/22)

As a persona that represents only me, I am able to use it on the internet in order to create a personification of someone that I would like to be perceived as. In this case, someone creative and expressive but at the same time, comfortable in her own space and knows what she wants and doesn’t want. 

‘Ade’ is also short for my name, Adeline. It is what my close friends created for them to say in a quick manner for apparently my full name is too long for day-to-day banter. Ever since then, I have used this name for online purposes, such as with my group members or when I am playing Tetris online. It is a skin made comfortable for me to wear for daily use.

Number 23 on my persona’s tank top represents my lucky number and my favorite colors are also shown on her clothing. The stylus in her right hand as well as the different colors in the background shows her creative side. As seen from her posture, she stands in an awkward manner, this shows that she is reserved but she can channel her personality through her creative side.

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4. Final Outcome

The final outcome is a FlipBook created on the website mentioned earlier, with the main concept of it being that each character had an ‘intro page’ of which it had descriptions, sketches, color palettes, etc. and the page adjacent to it consisted of a fully rendered concept drawing of the character. 

 

Fig. 5.1 Example pages of the FlipBook, Week 7 (22/2/22)

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QR Code and Link to view the finished

https://heyzine.com/flip-book/65840ed197.html

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