Jordan Coleman

Design Standpoint

Media Design is a new form of art. Just like dancing, music and film, Media design possesses the same traits required to be labelled as “Art”. Animation is a perfect example of this as it requires artistic drawing and creativity along with the necessary skill and talent to produce higher quality animation. Gaming is probably the most artistic in media as it consist of animation, storytelling and in many cases music; All of these combined produces an interactive art piece of which can be rated like any other form of art. As media design is a fairly new concept it is so far only recognised as art by those who use or create it. Creating such impressive animations requires talent and creativity, two traits which are essential to all artists therefore animators deserve the same praise that a famous artist or sculptor would receive. Because animators have full control over their animations they have no limit to what they can express unlike directors who are only as good as their actors; this lets animators get exactly what they were going for not just settling for what they were given by the actor. One thing that has only recently become essential to animation is emotion in characters, bringing them to life like what you would see in art. The mannerisms or slight movements in the face such as eye brow raising, frown lines and smiles are just a few examples of how animators bring their characters to life, making them more human-like.

Below are 2 examples of media design being art. The first is Quantic Dreams’ “Kara” which is fully animated with extreme human-like detail, I suggest watching it in 720p or higher to get the full detail. The second is a short film by Dan Trachtenberg based on Valves “Portal” game franchise. The short is live-action but has special effects (animation) incorporated into it.

Quantic Dreams’ “Kara” (2012)