In The Beginning

Assessment Task Instructions.

Project Title: Time/Space/Place.

Introduction.

West Fife and Edinburgh has a rich and varied heritage in its built and architectural environment. There is an exciting and broad cross-section of building styles and types; it is these that will provide you with your inspiration as well as a theme for your online project.

Buildings have many different spatial qualities such as light, texture, surface, material, and volume. Buildings can provide personal experiences through association and connotation and many of these different experiences and qualities can have a time-based dimension. For example think about how a railway station changes in atmosphere from rush hour to late at night. Another time-based example is ‘historical time’, where we can look at a building as it decays or its evolution over time.

The Brief.

You will be allocated a building from a given list. You are then required to create an online web project which uses your given building as an influence or creative stimulus. It is important that you identify the scope of your project, i.e. will it be a design-led project, or a fine art solution, or perhaps a multimedia solution.

All of the buildings in the list have interesting qualities and are full of possibilities for a creative web project. What is important is how you decide to use the building as an inspiration for ideas.

Building List.

♦ Abbot House

♦ National Museum in Chambers Street, Edinburgh

♦ Holyrood Palace

♦ Brittania

♦ Dunfermline Abbey

♦ Edinburgh Castle

♦ Moray House, Edinburgh University, Royal Mile

♦ Alhambra Theatre, Dunfermline

♦ Pittencrief Park, Glen Pavillion, Dunfermline

♦ Adamsmith Theatre, Kirkcaldy

♦ Ravenscraig Castle, Kirkcaldy

♦ Prague Architecture

♦ Culross Abbey

♦ John Knox’s House in the Royal Mile

Programme.

Analyse the brief.

You need to identify a chosen area in which to work; this could relate to your personal development and areas of interest. You may also continue to develop previous ideas and work. Although this is a very open project, you should confine your choice to one of the following areas.

Design.

You will analyse a project brief and set a design challenge for your building. This will have a practical aspect and a predetermined outcome. For example, you may design an information website on the history of the building or perhaps you could advertise a temporary event to be held in the building. You may design an architectural guide and experience in the form of a multimedia presentation. You could work with a single medium such as photography or work with a number of media types, for example motion graphics often requires the compositing of a range of media elements. You will then be expected to write a detailed design brief that identifies your client, a market and need for a design, and the aims and objectives for the project.

Fine art.

You may wish to take a fine art approach to your final project which may use a single medium such as drawing, video, or photography, or you may take a more multi-disciplined approach.

Fine art: themes.

Please select one (or a number) of the following themes to follow. They are all fundamental to art and design practice.

♦ colour

♦ surface and texture

♦ shape and form

♦ light and shade

♦ time

♦ people

Fine art: method.

♦ How you intend to explore your idea needs to be established early in the project. It is important to establish a methodology.

♦ Explore your chosen theme(s) in your sketchbook by developing a range of ideas and routes of enquiry.

♦ Integrate all research into your development.

Timetable.

You will need to include a timetable and schedule as part of your analysis of the brief for either the design or fine art solution.

Research.

Initial research: Provide research about your given building. Look at who built it; why they built it; who they built it for; when they built it; and what style they built it in. Look at the use of the building. Place the building into context with its surrounding area and when it was built. Gather evidence of this through drawing, photography, and text.

Your objectives should be for focused research that meets the requirements set out in your analysis of the brief.

Specific research for your chosen project: Modelling other artists and designers is part of the learning and development process. Find examples of work by established practitioners from your chosen area of study.

Inspiration research: Find visual resources and references of things that relate to your ideas. These will be used as inspiration to help further develop your project.

Online research: Analyse at least three existing websites and record the evidence in your sketchbook and online. You should evaluate your chosen websites in the context of these six key web design and communication issues.

♦ Interactivity: consider the types of interactivity involved with using computer environments, for example closed interactivity, open interactivity, menu-based interactivity, and simulation/games-based interactivity.

♦ Engagement: consider how we engage with computer environments. Old media theories could be applied here such as film, theatre, or storytelling.

♦ Navigation: consider how we navigate computer space.

♦ Information structures: consider how we structure information in computer environments through grids, databases, modular systems, and metaphor. Also consider screen space and how we view the screen. For example look at open and closed form.

♦ Dynamics: consider how movement and dynamics affect how we use and view computer information. Old media theories such as film may assist here.

♦ Compositing and layering: consider how it is now possible to build multilayer images from a range of diverse sources. This could include theories on both collage and montage.

Research evidence: sketchbook

All research should be collated and evidenced in your sketchbook.

Development.

Sketch development: ideas and possible solutions should be evidenced in your sketchbook. It is important that you demonstrate your project’s development through drawing, collage, and, where appropriate, sketch model making.

Research: you may need further research as your project develops and new ideas and possibilities become apparent.

Pre-production.

Storyboards: you are required to produce a finished storyboard that explains how your website will work. You should illustrate how the navigation and interaction work and show how the overall project will look and feel.

Production and submission checklist.

Your final piece will be subject specific. What you intend to produce will have been outlined in your brief, however all projects should meet the following criteria.

♦ A detailed analysis of the brief and timescales. This should be at least 200 words long.

♦ All development and research work should be evidenced. This will include sketchbooks and, where appropriate, sketch models and storyboarding.

♦ A finished web design or fine art project.

♦ The finished web project should be uploaded to http://www.digitalartanddesign.co.uk

♦ All work should be finished to high and professional standards suitable for online public display.

♦ A 200 word report which assesses your project in terms of its web accessibility.

See the World Wide Web Consortium at http://www.w3.org/ for clarification on all accessibility issues and http://webxact.watchfire.com/ for online validation.