Interactive Game

I have been asked by the ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) to brand and create a new Museum and Gallery space called the ‘Type Factory’. It will promote the art of typography and will show some of the leading typographic art in the Gallery and show some of the history of the typographic world. In the ‘Type Factory’ category so far, you can see my process right from the beginning, from the brief analysis and target audience to some research, finding my colour scheme, choosing my brand values, finalising my logo, designing 2 series of posters and producing a series of wayfinding posters. The next stage is what this post will aim to oversee.

The brief has specified that I will need to present something screen based. I had a thought about it and thought that the obvious promotional materials (Website, iPhone App) was a little bit cliche and a bit boring. I have decided that they would not fit into my brand identity as my ‘Type Factory’ brand has a fun and informal atmosphere to it. So… I have decided to cater to my target audience (previous post) and create something educational and interactive, as well as being fun. This led me to creating a game. Not just any game, a virtual reality, educational game.

 

I chose to play around with the typographic puns as I did with my posters for the ‘Type Factory’ exterior. This is a rounded screen that the gamer would stand in front of, on entry the gamer would be given a gun and holster (not real by the way) to wear. The gamer would then reach this screen. It gives the instructions of the game, as well as a ‘Wanted’ poster for Comic Sans, for crimes against Typography. The Gamer is the Serif (Sherif) of Sans. During gameplay, several typefaces will appear at the bottom of the screen, the gamer will have to shoot the sign that has the specified typeface.

This is the screen after the gamer has shot the ‘Play!’ button on the previous screen. This shows an old western town with shaks and buildings on either side of the track. In this case, the typeface ‘Helvetica’ has appeared. This means that the gamer will need to locate the sign with the correct typeface. Of course, you and I both know that the correct sign is the Saloon on the far left of the screen.

This is another example of a typeface popping up, the typeface in this instance is ‘Garamond’. The correct sign is the ‘Jail’ sign to the right of the screen. The screen will move through the town so there will only be a limited time to shoot the correct typeface sign.

 

If you are unsuccessful, then this screen will appear. The gamer will have a total of 3 lives and 10 typefaces to guess. However, if you are successful in getting through, the next screen will appear.

When you are successful in guessing the correct signs, this screen will appear, it congratulates you for your superior typographic/typeface knowledge. It then asks you to holster your weapon as you prepare for a standoff with the criminal (Comic Sans).

Here comes Comic Sans…

He is in position. A countdown will start shortly…

The countdown is nearly over… When the game reaches 0, the gamer and Comic Sans both reach for their holstered weapon and attempt to shoot the other.

Both the criminal and the Serif have attempted to shoot down the other. But who succeeds? If you are successful in beating Comic Sans, this next screen will appear.

 

This is the final screen, If your score is one of the top weekly scores, then your score will become highlighted as seen above.

Overall, I think that the concept is really good, I think that it suits my target audience as the children will enjoy the game without really noticing that they are actually learning which typeface is which, while the designers will try it in an attempt to test their knowledge and beat the top scores. I think this idea would succeed in bringing out the competitive nature that a designer has. I think that my brand values are once again hit, as it is a modern way of learning, it is exciting, yet informative. I think that the colours are of my brand and so keeping the consistency of my ‘Type Factory’ brand.

There is not next stage to my project. My next post will however, be a summary of this project so take a look.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summary of ‘Type Factory’

This is almost the final installment of my ‘Type Factory’ project. For those of you that haven’t yet had a look at my posts on this project, please take a look, just click on the category on the right named ‘Type Factory’. It will show you my entire project from the brief analysis and target audience, right up to the final presentation. I will be presenting my work this week and will be getting feedback on this project, so I will also be putting that feedback on here for all to see.

Anyway, I was given a brief form the ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) in which I would have to brand a whole new Museum and Gallery Space. Them being the ISTD, this Museum and Gallery would be centred around the art of typography. It had been given the name ‘Type Factory’. My job was to create a logo, brand values, colour scheme, brochure, posters and advertising posters, a screen based media, and the actual look of the ‘Type Factory’ itself. You will find all of these things in the category named ‘Type Factory’ on the right hand navigation.

I think that my brand works nicely. I think I have been creative with the brief in that I could have created something boring as it is a Museum and Gallery, however, I think that the work I have produced is great. I believe my brand is very consistent throughout its elements in that the logo is used central every time you see it, the lines come through the elements and I have stuck to the same Helvetica typeface family. I think that the game is the most ‘off-brand’ thing as it doesn’t quite have the consistency of the other elements. On the other hand, it does tie in with my brand values beautifully and it is what the brief asked for. I will let you make up your own minds, feel free to comment on any of this work in the comments box underneath my work. Also, you can click on any of these images and they will enlarge for you. Thanks.