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By Design
Computer networks are on their way to becoming virtual
environments.
Rebecca Allen is exploring the possibilities — and the implications
Now that computer technology can render images quickly enough to facilitate
the creation of real time, three dimensional environments through which
characters or life-forms are able to freely navigate, new modes of multimedia
interactivity are emerging. And while digitized, networked communication
was until recently confined to text, new research and commercial developments
are now integrating interactivity within these new three dimensional “worlds.”
 Rebecca Allen,
chair of UCLA’s Department of Design, brings a much needed perspective
to research into three dimensional environments. Intel recently awarded
Allen — an Emmy Award winning designer, artist, director and pioneer of
projects involving new-media technology — a grant to explore aesthetic
issues in the design of PC based, multiparticipant, networked worlds. Allen
will be working with design and computer science students, as well as with
Intel’s Social Applications group, to develop forms of communication and
visual representation in virtual environments.
“What will ultimately come out of this is an infrastructure, a framework
that will allow people to experiment in these worlds,” Allen says. “Designing
and building that structure is a major challenge, but even as we’re working
on the technical aspects, we can also experiment creatively within various
design templates.”
Allen’s group is particularly interested in the “life,” or activity,
in these virtual worlds, where participants are represented as animated
icons known as “avatars.” The initial phase of the research involves creation
of a three dimensional model of a social environment that includes animated
performances by the avatars. Ultimately, much of the focus will be on the
appearance and design of movement of the characters — something not unrelated
to how they will communicate.
Rather than textual communication, the project explores the design of
communication through voice input (using computer microphones), as well
as through symbolic gestures and other movements, with the nonverbal forms
taking on greater significance as participants from different parts of
the world are brought together on the same networks.
Allen believes that Intel is representative of a growing number of companies
that have recognized the need to incorporate creative thinking into the
new generation of information technology. “These companies are realizing
that now that we have amazing capabilities to create virtual worlds, we
need to determine how to make the best use of them,” she says.
Simply transferring traditional media forms onto the computer fails
to capitalize on the new technology, Allen contends. Similarly, she sees
a major need for designers who understand the emerging tools and who, rather
than merely adapting traditional techniques, can begin thinking about design
in entirely new ways.
“A well designed print piece communicates well because of the flow of
information and the appealing way in which it’s presented,” Allen says.
“We’re starting with that premise but also saying, ‘We’ve moved beyond
the printed page. Now, we need to integrate sound, interactivity and three
dimensionality into the design.’”
Indeed, until very recently graphic designers thought in terms of the
two dimensional page. Today they must consider the third dimension (space)
and a fourth dimension (time). “Pacing and rhythm are often ignored,” Allen
explains, “but they are crucial.”
The issue of interactivity is also having a profound impact on designers.
“How do creative people make forms that allow for interaction by people
but still maintain the design integrity of the piece?” she asks. “This
is a difficult question.”
Allen hopes that leading edge research projects like her own will help
introduce design students to the new tools and show them how best to put
them to use. In addition to a heavy concentration in the general curriculum
on the emergent technologies and how they are changing what it means to
be a designer, UCLA’s Department of Design has established specific courses
on topics such as Web design, three dimensional computer modeling and animation,
and issues of communication in new design forms. The School of the Arts
and Architecture’s recently opened Center for Digital Arts, of which Allen
is codirector with UCLA Professor of Music Robert Winter, provides an interdisciplinary
environment in which many of these explorations can take place.
“It’s important to encourage collaboration among people from different
disciplines,” says Allen. “A painting is something one person can do, but
when you create a virtual world, it’s more like making a feature film.
Designers are the directors, and it is important for them to have a good
feel for all of the aspects that go into the world. But they also have
to be able to collaborate with people in other fields.”
Recharging the Electronic Classroom...
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