Spatial Flow: Movement & Direction
Manage Tension and Intensity
Getting the user's attention and guiding him/her forward into your experience in such as way that it is exactly performing what you had envisioned. Spatial Design can offer many solutions for managing intensity and adventure within an experience.
1.Movement
Movement in a design can be of one of two types:
Physical
Compositional
Physical movement occurs when some physical activity is present in the subject. People walking, for example, or objects such as cars that appear to be in motion. Aerodynamic forms like planes suggest not only motion, but also speed.
Compositional objects exist for movement and so they convey a sense of movement when we see them. They aren’t literally moving on the screen, but we know it’s their function and perceive the movement they imply.
Direction
Through the use of lines, colors, values, textures, forms, and space you can direct the eye from one part of a composition to another. This is considered movement or the illusion of movement in a design.
Direction leads to implied movement. Your eye follows the direction of a line or the gaze of a figure and your eye moves to see where the line leads or where the gaze is looking. Movement is the path the eye follows when looking at a composition. How the eye travels through a composition can help create unity and it helps tie the elements together through the relationship of various components. Fixate and move. Fixate and move.
There are three basic directions that can be present in a composition.
Horizontal—suggests calmness, stability and tranquility.
Vertical—suggests balance, formality and alertness.
Diagonal—suggests movement and action.
Through the orientation and shape of elements.
Where people in images look.
Where figures and objects in images appear to move.
Through scale that creates perspective.
Through arrows and other pointing devices.
source: Bradley, S. (2018). Design Fundamentals: elements, attributes and principles. [online] Vanseodesign.com. Available at: https://vanseodesign.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/sample/design-fundamentals-direction-movement.pdf [Accessed 19 Sep. 2019].
Views and vistas - way finding
In order to maintain a stable flow in the experience, the user's attention, focus and activity can be organised into levels, bubble areas, user moments or meaningful places. This perspective of Views and Vistas created by Mike Stout offers a good starting point. Make sure to design a meaningful opening view that provides all necessary information to the user. Framing the camera, from the perspective of several heights (users differ in height), is a necessity!
View: An arrangement of the camera and level geometry to create a well-constructed view of something important in a level.
Vista: A view, especially one through a long narrow avenue of trees or buildings.
Action spaces, viewpoints and look through options:
landmarks
checkpoints
pinch point
corridor
doorway
stairs
bridges
Focal points
Focal points integrate different functions. These three functions are most common, so explore what is good for your projects.
Are you showing off your art?
Are you trying to indicate the way forward?
Are you trying to tell a story or explore a theme?
Connectors
What unifies the space itself and the surrounding spaces? - doors - gates - highways - stairs - bridges - stepping stones
From lizarding to lingering: how we really behave in public spaces
The researchers behind The Field Guide to Urban Plazas decided to study the public behaviour of human beings in New York City, an update on William H Whyte’s pioneering work from 1980, The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. From ‘roosting’ to ‘schooling’, here are the patterns they found: From lizarding to lingering: how we really behave in public spaces
Gameplay Builder - Floors
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