We’ve just delivered what was hopefully an interesting lecture at Bradford College. The major topics covered included collaboration, tools of the trade and embracing failure.

Throughout our design education we’ve been left bewildered by many a guest lecturers speech, in most cases this is because the person talking was completely out of touch with the audience. An hour of hearing about the unbridled success of an individual can be inspiring, if delivered with a good dose of humour. But on most occasions we’ve been unable to fill in the gaps between the good times and the more good times. So Grant Midwinter took the opportunity to reverse years of pent up heckling and took the stage to talk about the not so good times.

Failure is always more interesting than success (this is how newspapers survive!) so the lecture allowed Grant Midwinter to dig out those college projects that didn’t quite make it into a portfolio, highlight the wrong turns in our decision making and warn tomorrows creative workforce about the perils of recruitment consultants. As designers, should we be more open about the projects that helped define us for better or worse?

Well the art world is not so shy and if you’re wondering where do all those unloved projects go? One of our favourite artist Michael Landy’s ‘art bin’ installation at the South London Gallery is the place to see those polished turds shine.

There may well be a need for a digital art bin and it would be an interesting experiment to see if designers would be brave enough to put their name next to their failures. Would you?

This is the first in a series of posts about Grant Midwinter developing a game for Sony and this week we’ve had the pleasure of meeting legendary games creator Charles Cecil for a little input on our project. For those of you not in the know Charles Cecil is a major force in interactive entertainment and has been part of the industry for over 25 years. Mr Cecil’s hits include the soon to be re-released Broken Sword (for the iphone) and the classic Beneath Steel Sky which is available for the iphone now.

As part of our development for Get in the Game we’ve received some wise words of support from Mr Cecil. Gameplay was the major topic of the day and as budding games designers it’s our first concern.

We are at an interesting point in the public’s attitudes and exposure towards the games industry. ‘Brainwashed 9 yr old Jonny attempts to save princess by climbing into sewage system’ scare stories from the 80′s and 90′s media have been (some what) replaced by glorious ‘Free wii fit training regimes’. This broadening of what was previously considered a specialist hobby has seen the re-jigged introduction of many gaming mechanics that experienced game players may have thought they had seen the back of. There are plenty of great examples out there and the one that both Mr.Cecil and Grant Midwinter can admit to playing (and enjoying… just a little) is the iphone game DoodleJump.

I have to say I bought DoodleJump primary to see what a 59p chart topping iphone game looks like. 30,00 sales in a week! The public can´t be wrong can they? Simon Cowell would be happy with those figures!

DoodleJump is a platforming game where the sole aim is to make it to the next platform, no ammo, no gaming changing decisions and no buttons. The game integrates the iphones gyroscope to allow you to control the main character (tilting your iphone left, sends Doodle left, tilt right he moves right). The simplification of controls plus a single goal make for a addictive cocktail of pure gameplay buzz plus something cool that you can show your mom with a chance she’ll understand how to use it in under a minute. The previous statement provides a tough benchmark for any game developer but is worthy of further exploration as the physical and mental barriers between gamer and game are removed. As we design our first gaming experience we are more than aware we need to provide a ‘quick entry’ to the core concept and user controls and ‘reluctant exit’ through exhilarating gameplay. How we create this balance will be down to painful trail and error testing and as soon as we’ve nailed it you’ll be the first to know.

It’s a well known fact that all designers have bad eyesight. All those long hours in front of a dark screen in damp atmospheric conditions with nothing more than a mug of coffee to call your friend, add up. With this in mind we decided to launch a site dedicated to one of our favourite subject here at the Grant Midwinter HQ.

Glasses. Not just any old spectacles mind you ohhh no, we have style! So much so infact that we’ve had the backing of many top designers in our efforts to create our journal dedicated to classic eye wear Retrospectd.

You lucky pups get a sneeky sneeky preview at our latest venture here Retrospectd. Lets us know your thoughts as the site is still in beta and the official launch isn’t for a few weeks. If you have good ideas they may make an appearance on the site so please get in touch!

Yes, Grant Midwinter was stirring it up at the Btween 09 digital conference last month. There where some very good talks held on the future of digital media, stand out sessions include ‘The Case Against Advertising’ with Jonathan Macdonald and Steve Taylor of Aegis (more of which later) and ‘Alchemy, Chemistry and Collaboration’ held by Jeremy Ettinghausen of Penguin and Tom Thirlwall of MWorks.