Tap into the Rhythm! (…of design)

During spring break I decided that I was going to buy myself a Nintendo DSi because my old DS system was one of the 1st generation systems. It was huge and bulky, had a small screen, and wasn’t as bright, shiny and new as the DSi.

So when you get a new console, you need to get some new games! (That’s just a given.)

One of the games I stumbled across was Rhythm Heaven, a rhythm music based game that requires you to be skilled in… you guessed it. Rhythm. Ok. So maybe I’m not the best when it comes to matching tempo changes but at least I can spot design in a video game.

A screen shot of one of the mini games involving 3 singers.

It’s not just the title screens for each of the mini games, but it is clear that Nintendo goes to the trouble of designing the actual in-game screens. During my frequent bouts to get “Perfect” on all the mini-games, I sometimes catch myself identifying certain design aspects on each level. “Hey, they are using the rule of thirds! Hey, they are trying to lead the eye downward with that subtle inclusion of birds!”

Notice how the flock of birds leads the eye downward?

If I could pick a dream job, it would literally be to work at Nintendo. There is a reason they are the top console makers, and that their official games are best sellers. They actually use design in the games! Rhythm Heaven is no exception. Are you extremely gifted with the power of perfect rhythm and also like design? Give Rhythm Heaven a try – I think you’ll be pleased both musically and visually.

Here’s some other stills from the game  – so simple… yet so design.

Taiko drum minigame

Maraca-style Lizard Minigame

Rhythmic Turnip Stomping Fun!

Why I love Vectors

Today I spent the entire day working on my senior thesis. My senior thesis is centered around “kawaii”, otherwise known as “cute” things. When I work with any project I like knowing that I have some flexibility with the work. If the work needs to be x3 bigger or x3 smaller, I want to be prepared for that possibility. That is why I work primarily in vectors. Vectors give me so much freedom, and they are really the only way I ink my illustrations.

It’s taken me a while to finally tweak the Illustrator settings to match with my wacom pad’s pressure sensitivity. Now that I found a way for me to ink weighted lines that are vectors I am extremely happy.

Done entirely in vectors.

Here’s an example of my vector work that I am doing for my senior show. I’m glad that I decided to work in vectors for another reason. A few weeks ago I found out my budget for actually printing this work was going to have to be cut in half. So now I can take a sigh of relief and know that the work I have made is in a format that allows me to scale it down without any negative effects. A lot of my friends swear by pixels, and maybe its because I’m a bit of a control-freak in my work, that I just have to say I’m a part of Team Vector. At least vectors can be easily converted into pixels… the other way? Not so much. ;D