Wednesday, February 28, 2007

"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes."
Douglas Adams
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Back to the problem of design. Now I have sorted out the interfaces - well in that they work... and should do the trick and I've spent the week trying to make them look asthetically as pleasing as possible. And as I'm sure were all getting bored of hearing, and I'm certainly bored of typing/thinking/pondering; the screen size, this is the problem. Again. Its just too small to work with. When designing a web page, or an illustration, or whatever, you make the window size whatever size you want, size is no object (over the constraints of the screen size obviously). I keep getting drawn back to how I would design this piece in a perfect world. First off the general design I would make the background fancier - a Victorian style border, torn edges, different papers, materials, animated elements. I would use animated transitions between pages and use more illustration to show this. For the user input screens I would use a typewriter, and have the input sections as an old book - make the paper fly away when you submitted your answer. I would have the question screens with the animated elements also in a book - instead of blunt page changes I would make the viewer turn the pages of the book (yes its been done and is slightly 'passe' but still.. I like it)I would use a time machine a bit more - could have it flying around or teleporting through the pages. Maybe a Doctor Who effect - fuzzy blending with some interference to the picture. The possibility's are endless. I need to think this through more........

Tuesday, February 13, 2007