mulshine's blog
Music 256A, Week 8
The eighth and final chapter of Artful Design (along with its Coda) dive deep in to the philosophical ideas underlying the books essential message: to inspire the union of aesthetics and practical design as a moral obligation on the part of the designer. To design artfully is to understand and attempt to balance the end-user's experience of engaging with a thing as a means to an end versus as and end in itself. Advancements in technology have the tendency to supply us with tools that perform tasks well and serve as a means to an end. This is great when we want to solve problems, but the more we use these tools and build careers and lifestyles around them, the more our own thinking becomes means-to-ends driven... the more our own thinking becomes task-oriented and calculated.
Music 256A, Week 7
Chapter 7 of Artful Design discusses social design, how we design interfaces and experiences for our selves, our loved ones, our friends, acquaintances, people we kind of know, and total strangers alike. Moreover, it discusses how we can embed sociality in games, instruments, and interfaces. Apps/instruments/games like Ocarina (Globe), Leaf Trombone World Stage, Smule Sing!, Smule Glee, and Magic Piano (One-on-one) are all examples presented in the chapter that integrate social-media-esque interactive components to enhance the game experience and connect users across the globe. Unlike the mainstream social medias of the day (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), these apps provide an anonymous social environment focused on group art-making. Anonymity affords comfort of expression...
Music 256A, Week 6
20 Levels to Understanding Something About Games Game, by Mike Mulshine
1 - a game can make you feel. if you agree, go to level 2. otherwise, go to level 3. yes = 2; no = 3;
2 - in games, you overcome obstacles. you are challenged. you learn new rules and limits. you gain skills. you can enter a new world (fantasy). you can have a new life in the game. you feel power or the lack thereof depending on how well you are doing. controls and agency make you the protagonist of the experiences played out in the game. you feel things. you can become attached. in some ways, all of this describes real life, but games are not real life... we do them in our real lives though... are games escapist? yes = 7; maybe = 10;
1 - a game can make you feel. if you agree, go to level 2. otherwise, go to level 3. yes = 2; no = 3;
2 - in games, you overcome obstacles. you are challenged. you learn new rules and limits. you gain skills. you can enter a new world (fantasy). you can have a new life in the game. you feel power or the lack thereof depending on how well you are doing. controls and agency make you the protagonist of the experiences played out in the game. you feel things. you can become attached. in some ways, all of this describes real life, but games are not real life... we do them in our real lives though... are games escapist? yes = 7; maybe = 10;
Music 256A, Week 5
Chapter 5 of Artful Design discusses the aesthetics of interface design, particularly musical instruments, with digital technologies. The chapter emphasizes the importance of the human body, "our mind's interface," and explores works by artists who have attempted to close the gap between humans and machines (artists like Rebecca Fiebrink, Michel Waisvisz, and Atau Tanaka). This is a unique challenge faced by digital instrument or interface designers; that is, how do we design an instrument or interface whose output feels coupled to human input?
Music 256A, Week 4
Chapter 4 of Artful Design focuses on the design and use of programming languages for creative purposes. Every programming language packs with it its own unique aesthetics. Even if two languages can tell the computer to do exactly the same things (as many can), the syntax and verbosity of a language make the coder design differently. The ease of synthesizing audio, timing events, connecting external devices, sporking shreds, and more, in ChucK lends the language well to the creation of compositions, audio installation software, interactive applications and musical interfaces.