Sixth reading

Design for emergence
By: Yanna Vogiazou


Ch. 3 – Design for emergence

This short chapter discusses the means of emergence and how it is used in technology and games.

The purpose of emergence is to cause unintended uses of something so that it manifests itself as a new possible function. The author explains in short the example of SMS and how it found new uses within society and gave way for new means of communicating. Emergence design in games is used to enhance the experience for the player by giving freedom of exploration and motivating game play.

It is explained that emergence can be used in developing purposes where test groups of people get to play with a platform and define uses for it. The developer’s can in their turn through feedback identify needs and functions in a product and implement them.

I think that this is a very good way for developers to design user-friendly products and meet the needs from the crowd. I think this can be seen nowadays when for example programs and games get downloadable content developed for the sake of new functions.

Ch. 4 – Early design sketches for design for emergence

This chapter is hard to make a review of because most of the text is based on illustrations in the book. But in short the author presents different games that she was involved with and how they where designed for the sake to get people involved with each other. The platforms used where Internet and mobile phones.
The purpose of these games where to be easy to use with minimal visual representation and make people make their own meaning out of them. That through playing these games people would experience communication, challenges and emergence.

To be honest this chapter was quite boring to read and I had a hard time making any sense of it. And throughout these two chapters there where a lot of references to other parts of the book which gives the impression that you have to read the whole thing to get a full understanding.