http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog Designtalk - a blog discussing design, technology, education in and beyond South Africa Wed, 15 May 2013 22:10:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/16/south-african-design-consultancy-nominated-for-games-for-change-award/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/16/south-african-design-consultancy-nominated-for-games-for-change-award/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 22:08:37 +0000 Designtalk http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=611 Earlier this week, Games for Change, a non-profit that catalyzes social impact through digital games, announced the 2013 finalists for the Games for Change Awards in the following categories: Most Significant Impact; Most Innovative; Best Gameplay; and Game of the Year. The annual awards are designed to celebrate excellence in the year’s best “games for change.” The finalists were selected by a blue ribbon jury and the awards will be presented to winners during the 10th Anniversary celebration of the Games for Change Festival in NYC on Tuesday, June 18th 2013. ]]> http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/16/south-african-design-consultancy-nominated-for-games-for-change-award/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/09/eskom-uses-video-game-to-inform-public-about-energy-demand-management/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/09/eskom-uses-video-game-to-inform-public-about-energy-demand-management/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 08:38:50 +0000 Designtalk http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=598 An interview with designer Scott Chapman about designing the Eskom Energy Planner game Recently Formula D interactive designed the Eskom Energy Planner Game to educate people on the different power generation technologies in an entertaining way. The online game allows players to take custody of a virtual city’s power plan and seek a balance between the most efficient technologies currently available and the most environmentally friendly ones. Players must also take into account the varying costs of production of the different technologies and face the challenge of maintaining an economically viable mix of all of these elements. We asked Scott Chapman, multimedia designer at Formula D, who was heading the development team at Formula D, what it takes to design an educational game like this. ]]> http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/05/09/eskom-uses-video-game-to-inform-public-about-energy-demand-management/feed/ 1 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/03/17/maps-how-designers-shape-the-world/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/03/17/maps-how-designers-shape-the-world/#comments Sat, 16 Mar 2013 22:29:44 +0000 Michael Wolf http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=567 World maps are not truer to the reality of the world then a spreadsheet with landmass figures of each continent. Both entail measurements and estimates, but are in fact abstract descriptions of known data about our world. Since our perception is visually dominated, designers have done a great deal for our understanding of the world by visually interpreting data from narratives, philosophical debate, firsthand observation and mathematical measurement. It is understandable that during the realisation of these representations, they often had to fill in gaps to make sense of incomplete data or address constraints of the medium they were using. The translation of data into a visual representation is subject to interpreting data. Design informs data and thus creates information. In today's data rich world, data visualisation is one of the foremost design tasks since it delivers information necessary for the understanding of our world. Most world maps are iconographical depictions which describe the shape and size of land and water. But topography has often been corrupted by incomplete or incorrect data, bad design tools, or ruling ideology. ]]> http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/03/17/maps-how-designers-shape-the-world/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/19/gentrification-and-the-creative-industries-an-interview-with-prof-oliver-baron/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/19/gentrification-and-the-creative-industries-an-interview-with-prof-oliver-baron/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:39:50 +0000 Designtalk http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=559 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/19/gentrification-and-the-creative-industries-an-interview-with-prof-oliver-baron/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/12/interaction-design-for-learning/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/12/interaction-design-for-learning/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:20:33 +0000 Michael Wolf http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=547 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2013/02/12/interaction-design-for-learning/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/11/the-saudi-food-and-drug-authority-works-with-south-african-design-company-to-produce-state-of-the-art-multi-touch-wall/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/11/the-saudi-food-and-drug-authority-works-with-south-african-design-company-to-produce-state-of-the-art-multi-touch-wall/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2012 10:44:27 +0000 Designtalk http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=520 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/11/the-saudi-food-and-drug-authority-works-with-south-african-design-company-to-produce-state-of-the-art-multi-touch-wall/feed/ 1 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/04/gentrification-berlin-cape-town/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/04/gentrification-berlin-cape-town/#comments Tue, 04 Sep 2012 07:14:51 +0000 Michael Wolf http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/04/gentrification-berlin-cape-town/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/09/04/gentrification-berlin-cape-town/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/08/13/world-design-capital-2014-the-elusive-wonder-weapon-for-change-makers/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/08/13/world-design-capital-2014-the-elusive-wonder-weapon-for-change-makers/#comments Mon, 13 Aug 2012 19:43:57 +0000 Michael Wolf http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=484 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/08/13/world-design-capital-2014-the-elusive-wonder-weapon-for-change-makers/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/26/designing-interfaces-to-humanise-technology/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/26/designing-interfaces-to-humanise-technology/#comments Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:42:27 +0000 Michael Wolf http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=476 Cape Town's Creative Mornings event and tries to answer some of these questions. ]]> http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/26/designing-interfaces-to-humanise-technology/feed/ 0 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/13/recycling-education-with-an-interactive-floor-projection-game/ http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/13/recycling-education-with-an-interactive-floor-projection-game/#comments Fri, 13 Jul 2012 20:43:39 +0000 Designtalk http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/?p=471 http://www.formula-d.co.za/blog/2012/07/13/recycling-education-with-an-interactive-floor-projection-game/feed/ 0