South African design consultancy nominated for “Games for Change” award
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.
Eskom uses video game to inform public about Energy Demand Management
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.
How designers shape the world: A short essay on cartography, design and ideology
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.
Gentrification and the Creative Industries: An interview with Prof Oliver Baron
Q: Mr Baron, you are heading up a group of German design students from Koeln International School of Design (KISD) who are currently in Cape Town to collaborate with local design students from CPUT/Informatics and Design on a project around the topic of gentrification. What is the motivation behind the project? A: Content-wise, the global [...]
Interaction design for learning
We all know it; it is the mantra of our time: Our lives have changed a lot in the last years through information and communication technology. It has changed the way we work. It has changed the way we communicate. New technologies like mobile computing, new tools and interfaces not only have a major impact on our work and social experiences, we can rightly claim that they have improved our lives in various areas. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the field of education. Here, it seems as though things are moving slower than anywhere else. The following article proposes various engagement points for interaction designers to make technology count for education.
The Saudi Food and Drug Authority works with South African design company to produce state of the art multi-touch wall
Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has turned to South African design company, Formula D interactive, to create an innovative multi-touch wall that will enable the Authority to communicate its vision and responsibilities to the general public and VIP guests in an original and engaging way. In a market saturated with food and drugs products [...]
World Design Capital 2014 – Participatory design and experimentation are key to urban innovation
Although, there had been hopes for an economic boost which did not materialise in the form it was anticipated, South Africa’s FiFa World Cup 2010 was a success story. The deliverables were clearly set: Build stadiums, manage infrastructure, and provide safety for an event that would merely endure 4 weeks. In turn, the deliverables for World Design Capital 2014 are far from clear, a fact which on one hand provides an opportunity to shape the scope around the unique requirements and capacity of the region, but also bears the risk of disappointed expectations on the other. The World Design Capital project should be used as an opportunity to focus on developing change strategies following a bigger vision, instead of settling in on preconceived expectations for solutions.
Recycling education with an interactive floor projection game
The Recycling Floor projection Game educates players about different recyclable materials and how they can be identified. Located some thirty-eight kilometers north west of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage was historically known as the ‘garden town’ of the Eastern Cape. Over the years, as its population has expanded, waste has become a visible problem in the area. [...]
25 Questions and Answers on Art, Technology and Design
Two weeks ago Catherine Henderson, who organises the Cape Town’s Creative mornings, asked Formula D interactive’s Michael Wolf 25 questions about design, art and tech via Twitter. Questions and answers were limited to 140 character each. Here are all Q & A’s in one thread. Q: Michael Wolf, what do you do? A: I am founder, [...]
Multitouch table helps young people to understand how personal choices affect their lives
The ability to choose is one of the things that makes us human. But making decisions is not always easy. The consequences of one bad decision can affect the rest of our lives. What happens when you’re faced with a difficult choice? Say you’ve just completed high school. Do you get a job or study further? How do you know what to do? Which path is the right one to choose?
For young people in Uitenhage, Formula D’s Life Choices Touch Table Game is helping them to understand how personal choices affect their lives.
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