Sculpture Workshop Review

    Just back from the sculpture workshop with a renewed feeling of energy and enthusiasm. It wasn't as such a hands on session as I would have expected from an event named 'Sculpture', it was more of a learning and thought provocation session on creativity and 'making a difference', which was the focal point of the session.    Roger spoke about how communication is one of a maker/designer's most essential tools and I think that that bore alot of relevance to me, especially as we're just going into the teamwork stages of the year. He also touched upon an aspect of design that I had never really thought about before, he said that we were 'working in an era of sustainability'. He was relating back to the early years of the century, when things were made to survive and to serve their function for long periods of time as well as the era that I think we are just beginning to leave, where waste and disregard for making things last played a fairly big role in society. Now sustainability and preservation are beginning to emerge again, I thought that was quite a nice thought. It also made me think how perhaps that could be translated into the gaming industry, perhaps in the form of indie games that are now more than ever taking peoples interest, spending little resources to create games that sometimes either last or in other cases don't. I can testify for this, recently spending more time on iPhone apps than on console games (Angry Birds is a good example of a game offering longevity).
    Actually it was quite weird how alot of the points Roger was making were relevant to me at the moment. He told us that he always kept string, a toffee, a penny and a penknife on him. It was a point he was making to support the idea that to create, you don't always need technology or the latest software to create a decent end product (and also about life's essential components). Which made me think back to the 'Make a game in 15 minutes' excercise I did a few weeks ago, again simply using pen, paper, dice and a few counters. I think that suggests that no good final product was miraculously created without any design/thought process or journey, which is something that I have been hearing quite alot over the last few years now and more than agree with.
     He also talked about the 'Hierarchy of Human Needs' in relation to creating for a client or the market. This hierarchy took form as a ladder ordered like this...

Self Fulfilment
Self Expression
Belonging
Security, Warmth and Shelter
Physiological Needs, Hunger and Thirst


...Self fulfilment being last on the hierarchy. I dont think all the parts of this hierarchy can be thought of from a game creation perspective, I would probably say that games fell on 'Belonging', in that games often influence grouping and social interactivity to create a sense of community. All the points Roger made were to support the idea of using basic tools and other aspects like the senses, sight, hearing, touch etc. as a means of creating and how they act as a type of cone to put your creative ice cream on (it's an amazing metaphor I know).
    The session was ended with a quick experiment. Three volunteers were asked to peel a banana half way, they all did so using the same method. Roger then continued to explain that research suggested that the typical way of peeling a banana (holding the banana and peeling it using the small stalk at the top) wasn't the most efficient way of doing so. He then explained that after studying apes, researchers discovered that by holding the banana by the stalk and peeling it from the bottom (as apes did) was easier and also allowed for the stalk to be used as a sort of handle. I've made it sound like a bit of a pointless task but it was show that to understand the context for which you're designing, its always worth looking at the roots of the subject in order to better understand the 'thing' that you are designing/designing for, which I think might be worth me bearing inmind in the future.
    Roger left us with a few points which are worth considering when creating and with which I'll end the post with:

What's your inspiration?
Simple or ornate approach? Or both?
Take hold of your projects.
'Measure twice, cut once' (however I think that the iterative design method might suggest otherwise)
Beware of the unexpected.
Reflect.