#as well as what i believe is a somewhat representative cross-section of the genre to read/watch at your leisure

[monsterhugger]

i'm considering typing up my BL Research into a more tumblr-friendly format i feel like ppl might enjoy reading it

[talenlee]

Story Pile: Afterschool Dice Club

Hey this is a blog where I tell you stories about games so what if I told you about a story that tells you stories about games? Well, would you believe there’s an entire anime in the Cute Girls Doing Cute Things genre that’s just… about games?

No no no – not videogames. Nor making videogames. Not any of those anime about MMORPGs. Not even the ones that are tie-ins to games like the Atelier or Persona or Legend of Mana anime. I mean an anime about board games. Yeah, I found one of those!

It’s really mid! And I love it!

Afterschool Dice Club is an anime so tepid in its overall hook that it sounds like a setup to a twist. It’s an anime about a small group of friends, in high school, who start a board game club. They play board games with one another. They have names and individual experiences and anxieties about being the age they are in the place they are, but none of them are remarkable, or challenging standouts that you’d be surprised to hear about. One of them has transferred mid-semester. One of them is afraid of being left behind. One of them is maybe crushing on a boy. This anime is some mild tea, which means the next thing to ask, is, okay, if that’s what happens in it, what’s it about?

When an anime is ‘about’ something it’s often actually about one specific author’s specifically narrow vision of what that thing is. Sometimes this works out to the benefit of the work – Beck is an anime that benefits immensely from being about the music that its author thinks of as important, because even if that’s a narrow collection of artworks to build out of, that collection is still definitionally something that you need expertise to represent, and the way the manga and anime represent that demonstrates that the author is meaningfully aware of true things about the form they’re commenting on. Sometimes you’ll see an anime that wants to be ‘about’ something that doesn’t seem to understand anything about what it’s talking about.

I wouldn’t conventionally call it one of your healing anime. It’s not an anime where relationships are pre-eminent. It’s not a story where there’s long, indulgent shots of things that are meant to make you go that’s nice. It’s structured almost like a sports anime, but because it has to explain to you the sports each episode, the stakes can’t really get higher. There’s no ‘best’ or ‘drive’ in it. It’s just learning about a new thing every week.

The term I feel applies here is authenticity, and when it comes to authenticity, well, Afterschool Dice Club absolutely authentic. It’s not about board games as the author imagines them, or board games the way that lesser games are about ‘a card game’ where they have to break the rules to make tension or drama happen in the story. It’s about actual, real, commercial product board games you can go to a store and buy and play right now. In fact, if you watch the anime episode on a game, you can probably play the game. The sections of rules explainers in the anime are detailed enough that they’re clipped out on Youtube to serve as rules explainers for how to play the game, like Watch it Played was about adorable girls rather than an adorable Rodney. Sorry Rodney.

There’s a taste to the games I consider somewhat classical. There’s obviously a bias towards German games, but it’s more a sampling preference. This anime doesn’t seem to have a love for representing social or negotiated games – these are games that are sometimes criticised for being wholly isolated, where players can play the game without crossing any kind of language barrier. People place their pieces and let their gameplay do the talking for them. These are fine games – I particularly like Diamante, as an example of a really good, pure game with a tight engine that puts you very close to some decisions. I also love Cockroach Poker, a game that I have owned and never gotten to play with anyone who isn’t paying to be there, because the game is an anxiety engine.

Which is how they represent it.

A lot of what you watch anime for is to basically be advertised to. You’re tuning into something that’s using a story as a vehicle to show you things that you can then merchandise your love for. You wanna see cool characters being cool and neat mecha and amazing character moments and things that the great anime industry can then, somehow, turn into money through giving you opportunities to express your love through money. It’s not even a joke, the anime industry as I understand it is essentially trying to sell you being a fan of this anime specifically. It’s why so many anime have been trying to key into pre-existing fandoms, like light novels and the like.

I feel like the thing Afterschool Dice Club is trying to get you to get into is like, following their youtube channel for game tutorials. It’s a niche interest that feels like maybe someone who runs a board game store franchise was trying to finance it into existence. And like, surely that’s not true. Surely that financial conspiracy is nonsense, just natural paranoia bubbling away that nobody makes anime for nice reasons. Which isn’t true, lots of anime get made for nice reasons! But the people making it are nice, the people signing their cheques, those people are buttholes.

And I don’t know what they’re getting out of it.

There’s a message towards the end of the story. I’m always reluctant when I want to refer to ‘the message’ of an anime, or what a story is trying to do as opposed to what I get out of it, what my impression was, but in the case of Afterschool Dice Club there’s a very clear, very specific incident in the last episode, where the players play a communication memory game, and then explicitly use the language of that game to talk to one another about their feelings.

I talk about the idea that games are ways we can practice emotions. In Afterschool Dice Club, the story is about kids who aren’t good at talking about their feelings using games to give themselves the language to do that. That’s cool! That’s demonstrative! That might be markedly non-typical ways of learning communication methods! This may be an anime for dorks like me with macaroni soup for brains that makes us like board games and then shows ways that we can make words in that macaroni soup.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[nathgriffprepclass]

Business card research/Idea Generation

For my Professional Practice Interim shown I thought it would be a crucial Idea to design a business card that I could use to easily display Information about how to contact me and where to find my work. Business cards are a good Idea for anybody who is really trying to get their work noticed and is seeking further work to expand their portfolio.

I decided that it would be a good Idea to do some much-needed research into what makes a good business card. My first step was to have a bit of a brainstorm about different Ideas I could do for my card and I wanted to make sure my card related to the kind of content that my work is centred around. These being Photography and Film.

I thought about Interesting Ideas for how I could use a business card to show both film and photography. Here’s a list of Ideas:

Photography:

• Having a lens take up most of the card and having my company name be in the lens.

• Using an old style camera to give an hipster-like, traditional vibe.

• Using one of my own photographs, which would be a very easy way for a potential client to see my work. With a small logo placed on top.

Film:

• Using a clapperboard and the Information on the clapperboard would be all my contact information.

• A video camera from a side landscape view and on it would be my contact information.

• An old style theatre ticket. I thought this would give it a nostalgic vibe and it’s easily associable.

• Film reel, I’d maybe even cut out the holes at the top of the reel for added effect.

I then explored some different styles that I could mix with the photography and film aspect, so I looked at:

Abstract:

• Spirals

• Triangular patterns

• Circles/dots

• Diagonal lines

• Smoky coloured patterns

• Paint splashes

I probably wouldn’t go too abstract as it doesn’t really tie in with the photography/film theme.

I started looking at how I could perhaps relate my business card in personal terms.

Personal:

• Last name

• Nickname

• Spirit animal

• Hobby

• Something I’m very interested in

• Personality traits

When looking at personal elements, I will probably relate this more to my logo, rather than the business card itself.

Here is a more refined Idea generation. After doing my first initial Idea generation, I decided to go online to research examples of other people’s business cards. I found a lot of templates as well as people’s own business cards. I decided to collaborate these with a mood board style layout.

I divided them into sections, such as photography, film and abstract card designs and then looked at the cross over designs for photography and film as it would be nice to have a card to represents both my skill sets.

I found many photography related business cards that resembled cameras which I thought looked quite interesting/unique. I found these to be quite an eye-catching as they did resemble mini cameras which I feel would make you more inclined to pick one up. So I feel like this Idea is something to consider.

I also quite liked the look of the film related business cards. I liked the Idea of using a clapperboard or film reel as a business card as they are easily identifiable to the film genre.

I thought it would be fitting to look at business cards that related to both aspects of film and photography. So after researching I came across a few but could not find too many. One particular card I really liked was the see-through card which resembles a camera screen when putting into ‘live view’, I thought this was really cool because it’s something out of the ordinary and could be identified as either a camera taking a picture or recording a film and fits into both categories.

Finally, I had taken a look at a few abstract style business cards to give an idea of how to make my cards seem more unique. I found a few cards that particularly stuck out to me, but I thought that there may be a bit too colourful for something I’m going towards and came off as a bit too artsy, whereas I would like my card to come off as a bit more seriously.

Furthering my Idea

I developed my Idea further but drawing up a quick sketch of how I believe I would like my Idea to look. Looking at the design I went with the Idea of making my business card resembles a camera by having a large lens placed in the centre and other camera related features placed around.

However I did want to keep the film aspect in there also, so I thought of the Idea of using a film reel strap at the top to signify the aspect of the film within my work, this is where I would like the logo to be placed.

Research into Business card companies

As part of my business card research, I decided to have a look at various business card companies and compare and analyse their positives and negatives. So that I could figure out the best company to use when sending off for my business card.

Vistaprint

One company I looked at was Vistaprint. Vistaprint is well known for its business-related products such as business cards. Looking around I noticed a lot of options, at relatively cheap prices depending on the options you pick for your cards.

I took at look at the range of options. The standard business cards with no added extras was a respectable £10.79 in price or about £16 if I were to get the card with a back which I likely would, which I thought was quite good. Even though this is a deal, I noticed that Vistaprint often has dealt so I would take advantage of this if I were to go with them.

The overall reviews for the cheapest business card option is a respectable 4 stars, have a 4 1/4 star east of design rating, 4-star product quality and 4-star product value. I find this isn’t a bad grade at all of the cheapest options if I were to take it. I figured that it may not be worth going for the more expensive options until my final degree show as this is only the Interim show and whilst I still would like to make a good Impression, it’s quite likely my business card design will change anyway.

Moo

Another business card site was one called MOO. MOO was a site recommend to us by my lecturer. The site layout and design was easily accessible and easy to find the business card option.

I explored MOO and took a look at the business card options they provided. I went straight for the cheapest option and then looked at the level of quality they offered with that choice. 

There was quite a range of choices with the selection of cards you could choose from, however, I decided to stick with the original. There was a lot of options involving colours, template design, etc. 

When I finished a basic card and went to the checkout the total price was £26.38 for 100 cards, this was with both front and back and without any special features or premium finishes.  

MOO & VIstaprint final comparison

Cost - In terms of cost Vista print beats MOO by quite a large margin coming in at around £10 cheaper and this is for all the same options applied. 

Design Options - In terms of design options, again as far as I’ve noticed Vista print seems to offer quite a lot more than MOO. Vista print seems to offer variables such as gold lettering, raised print and rounded edges cost no extra, unlike MOO. 

Overall - I think in this case I will stick with Vista print due to tot heir cheaper option and a considerable amount of design option. However, it is still hard to judge the final product once it is delivered and if it proves to not be worth the value I will likely consider using different sites such as MOO and more costly options to get better finishes.

Final Card Idea generation 

Thought Process

To further my business card development I decided to create a mockup in Adobe Photoshop. My initial thought process when creating this was to think about what exactly my business card was to represent, so I began thinking about the areas of my course I was relatively good at and if my that would be part of my business and applied those elements to my card. For me, this would be Photography and Film, so my goal was to plan my business card around these using elements relating to those subjects. 

Iconography - Looking back at my research, I looked at some of the designs that I was quite Intrigued and Impressed by. For me, I really liked the whole use of film reel because it’s distinctive and identifiable. This was the same reason I decided to go for the use of the camera lens as people will be able to easily Identify it and will relate these elements to the practice I have to offer. 

Background  - I wanted to keep the colour scheme simplistic but not entirely boring. I decided to go with a very dark grey, almost black colour scheme. I decided this could be deemed too simple and perhaps boring so I wanted to add an Interesting gradient that fades into a lighter grey. I felt this almost made the card seem more eye-catching. 

Font - The font is still a work in progress, however, for now, I have decided to go for a font called ‘Typewriter’. I was trying to use fonts that worked well and were somewhat formal and I had the Idea to use this font due to it’s correlation to film scripts. 

Final Card

Here is my final business card design. After various tweaks, edits and people’s feedback I decided to go with this as my final card design.

Front 

 Throughout the editing process, I made various improvements to the front of the card design to better the overall look. various changes include:

- Removing the red dot. I was told this may be an unnecessary addition to the card and could do without it. 

- Enlarging and adding more horizontal lines coming from the camera lens. I felt this gave more depth to the card overall, a generally more visually appealing feature. 

- Changing the text font and colour. I realised before that I wasn’t overly fond of the font or colour of the logo, so I changed it. (explained more in my logo blog post). 

Back

Here is the back of my card design. Unfortunately, I had previously created the back of my card and was progressively working on it but due to a USB error, it deleted my files. I tried to reclaim it from memory and ended up turning out quite good. My design for the back was solely Intended for personal contact Information. I decided to keep the same gradient for the background to avoid confusion. I also added numerous social media Icons such as Instagram, Facebook, etc as well as my email and mobile phone number in strong black and white Icons to make them stand out more.  

I felt that giving a potential client numerous ways to contact me would give me a higher chance of being confronted with a potential job. I also added my name in large caps to clearly state my name so that any potential client would have something to refer to me by. 

Analysing others people’s business cards

Something I thought would be quite useful would be to analyse other examples of people’s Business Cards that they have created for the Interim show like me. I thought this would be a great way to at areas I think people have done really good in and areas people may have not done so well in. I realise my business card is not perfect and It would be really useful information to have for my next degree show when I am looking at areas to Improve and areas to avoid for my next design. 

Gareth Hunter

Positive’s - Abstract design, very colourful, the text is nice and centred, is very clearly presented. 

Negatives - No back to the card, the background Image doesn’t really seem relevant to what is being advertised. The colours are quite overwhelming and distracts from the Information. 

Nathan Aston’s

Positive’s - Good use of iconography, what is being advertised is very clear, numerous way to contact, clear and bold font choice.

Negatives - Icon could be bigger to better fill the card, the use of the colour grey seems slightly dull and un-creative, text could be bigger on front of the card, back of card could be better aligned, black text on grey looks uninteresting. 

Amy Ranford 

Positives - Very abstract design, simple colour scheme non overwhelming, font is bold and clear, contact Information is clear and centred on the back of the card, Iconic use of a camera clearly states their abilities. 

Negatives - Logo maybe a bit unclear.

Sam Walker 

Positives - Very unique logo design choice, white on black is clear and presentable, Information on the card has relevant font size, numerous contact Information. 

Negatives - Logo may be a bit too obscure and may confuse viewers.

Conclusion: I found some business cards to be better than others. Some negatives I particularly would like to avoid for the future is being too obscure with my design that the message isn’t delivered. I would like a logo that is very abstract but not so abstract that it deters away from what my practice is about. 

Website Links/References:

https://www.psprint.com/resources/powerful-business-card-fonts/

https://www.vistaprint.co.uk/studio.aspx?project_id=17dc12b9-a2a3-4942-b3b4-6fac19051412&ag=True

https://www.moo.com/uk/products/business-cards.html