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Scholarship Design exemplars – 2020
Show: All Scholarship resources
Outstanding Scholarship
This Outstanding Scholarship submission presents an innovative and engaging proposal for a game called Cut to the Cheese. Set in the future, it employs a simple premise; the aim is for the player (a piece of cheese) to escape the giant AI machine / robot (a grater) that has replaced cheese factories.
This game design proposition was explored through a range of modalities and processes: photographic constructions, vector drawing, digital illustration, 3D models, and dioramas. The candidate demonstrated fluency in the use of conventions such as typographical organisational devices – hierarchy, scale, display text, straplines (The Grate Escape, Cut to the Cheese, Back to the Chopping Board, Gouda Job) – setting the humorous tone for the game. The candidate immediately committed to the brief. For instance, the colour palette was confirmed early on, giving the candidate the licence to build a range of appropriate assets utilising colour as a visual tool. Each colour represents an aspect of the game environment or storyline. The integration of text and image in the masthead and type designs was successfully managed because of systematic testing and analysis processes. Options were developed via paper-cutting, cutouts, silhouettes, and positive-negative space techniques to create imagery related to the subject matter (the form and shapes of cheeses and associated equipment, such as the grater).
At the forefront of this proposal is the user experience. The candidate is well-informed and knowledgeable about the game genre and the types of games they like to play. They have an excellent understanding of what works best within existing game designs; they referred to other logo and icon designs, magazine covers, game screens, and user interface development. Throughout the workbook, the candidate effectively documented their analysis of established practice / other game design tactics and promotional materials they thought were synchronistic with their own.
Humour was employed in all facets of the design development to insert a sense of fun and conceptual play. As a conceptual device, it was used to expand the visual metaphors, which were well-analysed and outlined in the workbook. There was an excellent alignment of real-world technology with the ‘tools’ of the cheese trade. The grater is the villain with its facility to destroy cheese (to cut, grate, and slice cheese). The character development of the cheeses (players) is funny and smart; each cheese has its own set of attributes, strength level, and speed (they’re given a combined score of 6 to make it an even playing field). Consideration of elements such as the cheese skill stats take the game into the real world; it is believable – you can imagine being Cheddar, Plastic, Swiss or Blue to Cut to the Cheese.
Scholarship
This Scholarship submission focuses on creating a theatre technology educational and production company for women, Next Stage, which in turn is to sponsor the "Into the Limelight" awards evening.
This two-pronged brief provided an excellent range of possibilities for the candidate to investigate from different directions. They designed a multi-tool, ID card, packaging, website, double-page spread, brochure, and poster – all of which were undertaken through the lens of women working in the field of theatre technology. It was clear that the candidate understood their proposition well (the candidate works in the theatre industry as a lighting technician). Thus, they were able to establish an authentic enquiry based on personal interest / experience in their work life, with an underpinning interest in workplace gender politics.
Ongoing possibilities were created through the constant and continual generation of original imagery (type, object, figure, character). The graphic identity and style were informed by the candidate’s first-hand day-to-day knowledge, professional development learning opportunities existent in the sector, and education resources. For example, core material / content was sourced from a Theatre and Gender hui attended (body copy is authentic). This event provided a valuable reflective tool in the design process. Analysis and research into these contexts invigorated the project, introducing ideas of equity and inclusivity used to situate the branding and generate imagery throughout the enquiry.
The political implications for females working in what the candidate identifies as a ‘masculine’ workplace environment was highlighted throughout the workbook, positioning the social and political context and a solid framework for the branding, message, and intent. Questions around the gendered use of colour and representation added a criticality to colour branding decisions (including skin colour tones to signal inclusivity). The candidate worked across the gamut of related iconography (curtains, theatre coffins, spotlight direction, stage and sound equipment) using flat colour and a tight tonal range to create a consistent visual vocabulary and communicate a sense of community. Scale, perspectival, and 3D diagrammatic devices were employed to explore graphic treatment options and make reference to the stage. This added a fun element to the central messaging and the idea of women being involved (in employment) in the theatre tech industry, aka coming ‘into the limelight’.