The Problem:
Working ss a graphic arts teacher, I am constantly helping students who get stuck and frustrated while learning Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It is common for graphic arts teachers to employ project-based learning as a tool for teaching these programs because of the freedom and autonomy it brings; however, without deep understanding of the tools, the students are unable to complete any real projects of consequence without some intervention. They may have a clear vision of what they want to create, but knowing where to start and how to bring their vision to life is out of their range. When you first open Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, you are faced with an overwhelming amount of icons and windows, tools with an array of confusing features, and unfamiliar lingo. Without proper scaffolding, students struggle through assigned tasks, leading to frustration and decline in motivation. There is so much content in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, that students need appropriate levels of guidance to successfully learn new content.
Solution:
I gamified Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop by creating interactive digital art pieces that bring learners into the zone of proximal development. Each file has instructions on how to interact with it, and as you complete each step, another set of instructions are revealed. Within this scaffolding, students are able to learn tools as they follow each step, and discover new clues to solve the mystery. Each file has instructions on how to interact with it, and as you complete each step, another set of instructions are revealed. Within this scaffolding, students are able to learn tools as they follow each step, and discover new clues to solve the mystery.
Ideation:
The current instruction solutions for beginner graphic arts students are somewhat effective, but due to the diversity of learners, it may inadvertently leave some students struggling to grasp many of the basic concepts. In addition, they are minimally effective at motivating students when you discount any external motivators such as grades. However, they all have specific strengths that could be combined to create a new solution. I wanted something that had the in-depth instruction and variety found in Youtube videos, the in-app strengths of learning in the program, and the gamification of the Bezier game.
As I began to brainstrom ideas, I realized I could use the actual platform to create much more elaborate and interesting games than my original “pen tool game”. Thinking back on the games I played during my own childhood, I have fond memories of Her Interactive’s “Nancy Drew” games. It always started with some sort of crime, and you explore a world and find clues to solve the mystery. I began to take advantage of the infinite zoom of Illustrator, and the ability to hide objects outside of the artboard in Photoshop, and I continued to think of many other ways to hide clues and instructions that make a piece of art interactive. An art piece with hidden clues could turn into a mystery game where you explore the piece and slowly discover the solution to a puzzle. My ideas became more elaborate, and so did my artwork. I began to close in on a solid idea, and I started the development of my first game.
Development:
For Adobe Illustrator, I created an isometric world called “Quandryville” where each instructional activity is a lateral thinking puzzle. Each puzzle can be solved by following a series of steps that are provided in the program. For Adobe Photoshop, the student is a detective trying to solve crimes such as why the sheep are going missing. Each crime shows an interactive scene which eventually reveals that marmots are the root problem of each crime. Collectively, there are 8 puzzles, each with their own artwork, story line, instructions, steps, and solution.
The first puzzle that I developed was the bankruptcy mystery in Adobe Illustrator. The riddle goes like this: “A man pushes his car until he reaches a hotel. When he arrives, he goes bankrupt. What happened?”. I wanted to create a scene that looks like a normal street with a hotel, but slowly turns into a Monopoly board as the user learns the selection tool, and changes colors of shapes. I used the isometric style because I felt it best portrayed the street, and it’s a fairly easy style that can include a lot of detail. The Illustrator puzzles always start out with the same opening with the puzzle stated, and instructions to delete the top instructions with the selection tool to reveal the scene.
The image below on the left shows the initial instructions that appear when you first open the Illustrator document. If the students correctly follow instructions and use the selection tool and delete those instructions, the next scene will appear, which is the image you see on the right.
Instructions are always revealed slowly so as not to overwhelm the student. A simple challenge is given to change the text color from to black, so the next clue can be revealed. From there, instructions slowly increase in difficulty, and students are given plenty of practice to engrain previous knowledge of selecting objects and changing colors. The image below shows the scene after changing the fountain water from brown to blue, and selecting multiple apples and changing the color from yellow to red. The instructions are so small that students have to know how to zoom in to read the text.
Once students learn to select multiple items at once using shift, they are challenged with the concept of selecting a number of items so large that it would take too long to select them individually. They are challenged to select all of the yellow lines in the middle of the road. But an additional tip is included, explaining how to select multiple items that have similar attributes such as the same color. By providing the need for a tool first, then explaining the tool that fulfills that need, students are more likely to understand the benefits of the tool.
Nearing the end of the puzzle, students have the opportunity to practice all of the skills they learned. These last set of instructions are only revealed after completing all of the previous clues. Each square is a slightly different color, and as similar colored items are selected and changed, a new picture starts to appear.
Finally, as every set of instructions is complete, the answer to the puzzle is revealed. The man goes bankrupt from pushing his car to a hotel because he’s actually playing Monopoly!
User Testing:
I conducted two rounds of testing for all 8 of my products. For my test group, I chose a wide variety of people including high school students, college students, young kids, and older people. I wanted a wide range of skill levels and ages so I could catch all types of problems or confusing steps. For example, the violin maker has an acute attention to detail, whereas the english teacher will catch any grammatical errors. An older person may interact with a computer differently than a younger person, and so on.
I had some people complete these puzzles on their own, and I also watched some people complete it and observe any parts where they had difficulties. I collected qualitative data through interview questions and observation and began to look at attitudes towards the games. I asked questions to determine if they enjoyed it, what they found frustrating, what they learned, and any confusing steps they encountered along the way. I used design based research and took these results to go back and improve my product until I have desirable results
Conclusion:
The success and feedback for this project has been overwhelming. I’ve shared it with a significant number of graphic arts teachers, and they are looking forward to using it in their classrooms. I’m excited to continue sharing these useful teaching tools that can be used by graphic arts teachers, photography teachers, college-level professors, and personal continuing education for any age. They will be great tools in increasing engagement in the classroom, and introducing beginner students to Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Previously, outside sources and games have been used to create instructional content for teaching Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. But through my research, exploration, and creation, I have opened up a whole new idea of using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator as the platforms to create puzzles and games. My interactive files are innovative and inspiring, and they have the potential to completely remake graphic arts teaching. Through the information I have learned with this project, I look forward to continually exploring the possibilities with these programs and creating new instructional games.
Watch the video below to see all 8 of the puzzles.