The Force Behind Star Wars: Turning Design Ideas into Reality

Slide 1: The Force Behind Turning Design Ideas into Reality

Slide 2: Description: You!ve got an idea. Maybe it!s a new idea for a web application. Maybe it!s a new product idea you need to push through your organization. The question is: How do you turn an idea into reality? ll To answer this question, we!ll look at the making of Star Wars. We! look behind the scenes at what it took to get George Lucas!s space fantasy from script to screen. From assembling the right team to into navigating the Hollywood corporate studio environment to tapping powerful universal patterns—speaker Stephen P. Anderson will n present a dozen lessons UX designers (and developers!) can all lear from this adventure. be Not adventurous enough? In the spirit of the season, Stephen will raiding his garage to give away some great Star Wars prizes!

Slide 4: = Dreamer

Slide 5: (Video Clip - Intro from ‘Empire of Dreams’)

Slide 6: A year ago in a library not too far away....

Slide 7: http://markup.thekraemers.com/2006/11/21/the-prototyping-of-star-wars-2/

Slide 8: x What other lessons can we learn from the making of Star Wars?

Slide 9: x What other lessons can we learn from the making of -I won’t be quoting from SW -there are 15 lessons Star Wars? -I’ll be moving briskly -Expect too many quotes! -not much tactical stuff, just stories and principles -Yes, I am a SW geek -I’m assuming I’m among other SW geeks...

Slide 10: You are a dreamer. You have an idea. How do you make this idea reality? -skywalker-scaled-replica-lightsaber.jpg

Slide 11: Lesson Two: Lesson I: TAP INTOLORUM IPSUM UNIVERSAL PATTERNS

Slide 13: When I started out making the movies, I was working toward making it modern mythology. I had studied anthropology in college, and social sciences was my major before I got into film... I did more research before I wrote the screenplay for Star Wars. I read and reread The Hero With A Thousand Faces. -George Lucas

Slide 15: Mythic Patterns? Typically, the hero is the orphaned son or royalty. Unaware of his true identity, he is consigned to a life of drudgery and exile. He is first called to adventure by a herald, signifying that "the time for the passing of a threshold is at hand" (p.51). The threshold represents a rebirth into adulthood; the hero or heroine must overcome the parents, who stand as "threshold guardians."

Slide 16: Mythic Patterns? (continued) Along the way, the hero often encounters a protective figure, "some wizard, hermit, shepherd, or smith, who appears to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require....The call, in fact, was the first announcement of the approach of this initiatory priest" (pp. 72-73).

Slide 17: Mythic Patterns? (continued) Once he leaves the safe boundaries of the farm, Luke can never go back. As the attack of the Sandpeople shows him, the world is a desert place filled with danger, but only by abandoning the security he had known, leaving the womb of his childhood, can he enter the adult world. Luke at first refuses the call to adventure, but joins Ben when he discovers that, in his absence, Darth Vader's Stormtroopers have burned the farm and killed his aunt and uncle.

Slide 18: Different eras. Different heroes. Same mythic qualities.

Slide 19: “Last year's action movie is last year's action movie. Most of them are forgotten. Something mythical like Star Wars endures... The stories speak to something inside us that wants to know how our world lives, that wants to make order of it and find some meaning.” Shanti Fader, editor of Parabola magazine, a publication of the Society for the Study of Myth and Tradition.

Slide 20: What universal patterns can we tap into?

Slide 21: What universal patterns can we tap into? To create a better story, Lucas looked to anthropology.

Slide 22: What universal patterns can we tap into? To create a better story, Lucas looked to anthropology. To create a better product, We can look to ____________.

Slide 24: To become a better designer, become a better student of human interactions... Focus less on the end design, and more on the effects and results of the design. Tap into universal human patterns.

Slide 25: Lesson II: Lesson Two: GAIN CREDIBILITY WITH A LORUM IPSUM ‘COMMERCIAL’ PROJECT

Slide 26: e! e! re fz i r p id George Lucas hat 2 movies d W fore Star Wars? make be

Slide 27: e! e! re fz i r p id George Lucas hat 2 movies d W fore Star Wars? make be A: THX-1138 & American Graffiti

Slide 29: X

Slide 30: original short won first prize at the 1967-68 National Student Film Festival When Warner Brothers executives saw the finished product, they demanded Coppola return the $300,000 the studio had advanced for THX 1138 and other projects... full feature film well received by critics failure at the box office

Slide 31: Coppola challenged Lucas: ‘I bet you can’t do just a silly comedy’ “Graffiti would be cheap, it was quick, and I thought it was really commercial” - George Lucas

Slide 32: !

Slide 33: 3rd highest grossing film for that year Nominated for five Academy Awards Won a Golden Globe

Slide 34: After Graffiti became a big hit, they couldn’t refuse it... They couldn’t not do it. Just in terms of politics and the political intrigue of Hollywood. That’s what it came down to in the end. George Lucas

Slide 35: Got a big idea? Prove your skills with something smaller, first. (this puts you in a much better position, later)

Slide 36: Lesson Two: Lesson III: DEVELOP BUSINESS FLUENCY LORUM IPSUM

Slide 37: He didn’t care for the studio system. But he needed it, there was no other way of doing what he needed to do. Gareth Wigan

Slide 38: To protect the other 2/3rds of the story l “The Star Wars Corporation will own... all sequel rights [to] the screenplay ‘The Star Wars.’” “SWC shall have the sole and exclusive rights to use... the name ‘The Star Wars’ in connection with wholesale or retail outlets for the sale of merchandising items.” l Star Wars To promote (T-Shirts, Posters, etc.)

Slide 39: When you think of ‘business fluency’ what comes to mind?

Slide 40: Business fluency has two sides— cultural and conceptual—and to successfully attract investment designers need both pieces. Conceptual fluency means understanding the vocabulary of business and what ideas underlie business measures of its health, like profit and loss. Cultural fluency means navigating relationships, politics, power structure, emotional decision making, and organizational thinking. Jess McMullin, “Investing in Design”

Slide 41: Lesson Two: Lesson IV: FIND A PATRON LORUM IPSUM

Slide 42: ‘Patron’ could be... an outside investor an outside advisor someone high up in the organization

Slide 43: We had a meeting, and George said well I’ve been thinking about this thing called Star Wars... The technology part of the whole thing was completely over my head. But, I just believed in him, his genius. Alan Ladd, Jr., VP of Creative Affairs at Fox in 1975

Slide 44: (Video Clip - Interviews with Alan Ladd, Jr. )

Slide 45: Alan Ladd, Jr invested in me. He did not invest in the movie. And it paid off. George Lucas

Slide 46: SOMEONE... ld from the business worcounsel providing financial support or business WHO is influential can defend your efforts against criticism trusts and supports you won’t interfere with the project

Slide 47: Lesson V: Lesson Two: ASSEMBLE THEIPSUM TEAM LORUM RIGHT

Slide 48: “First, get the right people on the bus...” -Jim Collins

Slide 49: If people are on the bus because of who else is on the bus, then it’s much easier to change direction... ...if you have the right people on the bus, the problem of how to motivate and manage people largely goes away. Jim Collins, commenting on patterns of ‘Good to Great’ companies

Slide 50: All of us had worked with each other and were pretty good friends... And we talked to each other on a weekly basis just as friends. When John put the crew together, he put it together instantaneously, at least the nucleus of it. Grant McCune, commenting on the origins of ILM

Slide 51: In forming ILM, Lucas pulled people who worked on commercials and architectural models – not feature film makers. He also kept this team ‘autonomous’, with artistic decisions coming only from himself and two others.

Slide 52: a new kind of project needs... In forming ILM, Lucas pulled people who worked on commercials and architectural models – not feature film makers. He also kept this team ‘autonomous’, with artistic decisions coming only from himself and two others.

Slide 53: a new kind of a different project needs... type of person lLucas pulled In forming ILM, people who worked on commercials and architectural models – not feature film makers. He also kept this team ‘autonomous’, with artistic decisions coming only from himself and two others.

Slide 54: a new kind of a different project needs... type of person lLucas pulled In forming ILM, people who worked on commercials and architectural models – not feature film makers. He also kept this team ‘autonomous’, with artistic decisions coming only from himself and two others. led in a manag different way

Slide 55: The right people often approach problems a bit differently...

Slide 56: Everybody sort of cross-trained and worked in different techniques. That was different than the Hollywood system that had very strict sort of union rules. But there was no way that this work could be done that way, or that the Hollywood unions could understand what we were doing… Dennis Muren

Slide 57: “Broad and Deep Generalists” People who are ... Passionate Curious “Synthesizers” VS. Siloed Disciplines Usability/ Information Interaction Visual Front-End Back-End Researchers Human Architects Designers Designers Developers Developers Factors

Slide 58: And in front of the camera?

Slide 59: I spent 6 or 7 months casting Star Wars… I interviewed 1,000s of people George Lucas

Slide 60: Lucas looked for individual screen presence as well as chemistry together

Slide 61: He also mixed in a few established actors

Slide 62: Lesson Two: Lesson VI: IT’S LORUM IPSUM OKAY TO BORROW

Slide 71: Darth Vader Date Masamune

Slide 72: e! e! re fz i r p ic film by Akira Name a specif vily influenced rosawa that hea Ku f Star Wars... the plot o

Slide 73: Hidden Fortress was an influence on Star Wars right from the very beginning… I was searching around for a story. I had some scenes- the cantina scene and the space battle scene—but I couldn’t think of a basic plot. Originally, the film was a good concept in search of a story. And then I thought of Hidden Fortress, which I’d seen again in 1972 or ’73, and so the first plots were very much like it. George Lucas

Slide 75: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope features the exploits of C-3PO and R2- D2, whereas the plot of The Hidden Fortress is told from the point of view of two bickering peasants. The two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are first shown escaping a battle, while C-3PO and R2-D2 are first shown fleeing an attack in A New Hope. Additionally, both films feature a battle-tested General -- Rokurota Makabe in The Hidden Fortress and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope -- who assist a rebellion led by a princess and engage in a duel with a former rival whom they fought years earlier. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_sources_and_analogues

Slide 76: “ The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. Albert Einstein

Slide 77: Video Clip - Showing how ILM matched frame-for-frame aerial dogfights from old WW2 films that Lucas spliced together)

Slide 78: It’s okay to be ‘influenced by...’ ‘intentionally reference, or borrow/modify very specific design elements. It’s not okay to rip off someone else’s work.

Slide 80: http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000016.html http://www.sitepoint.com/article/copy-great-designers-steal

Slide 81: Lesson VII: CONFRONT YOUR WEAKNESSES

Slide 82: QUICK MINI-ASSIGNMENT: What is something you are weak at? Challenge yourself. Turn that into an assignment.

Slide 83: This is from 1975: In film school, I tended away from storytelling; I just didn’t like it… I thought that maybe I hated it so much because I couldn’t do it. This is one of the reasons why with Star Wars I want to attempt a storytelling film. George Lucas

Slide 84: Lesson VIII: EMBRACE CONSTRAINTS

Slide 85: constraints force you to see things differently (and often result in more creative solutions)

Slide 86: e! e! re fz i r p this have hat does W r Wars? o with Sta to d

Slide 87: “Graflex 3-Cell Flashgun” “Luke’s Lightsaber”

Slide 88: “Denix C96 Mauser” “Han Solo’s Blaster”

Slide 91: (same hallway for many scenes!)

Slide 92: Instead of freaking out about these constraints, embrace them. Let them guide you. Constraints drive innovation and force focus. Instead of trying to remove them, use them to your advantage... Constraints are often advantages in disguise. Forget about venture capital, long release cycles, and quick hires. Instead, work with what you have. http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch03_Embrace_Constraints.php

Slide 93: Man built most nobly when limitations were at their greatest. Frank Lloyd Wright:

Slide 94: Lesson IX: MAKE THE INVISIBLE, VISIBLE

Slide 95: It wasn’t until George acted it out or told you what a Wookie was, and what it was going to look like, that it started to make sense. Because it was really a universe that nobody could understand from the scripts. Willard Huyck (c. 1975)

Slide 97: I think they were done as a substitute for arm waving and verbal descriptions, and to start budget talks. Ralph McQuarrie So the studio can get a picture of what I’m talking about. George Lucas

Slide 98: Prototypes get people excited. And they clarify.

Slide 99: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quadmod/523335664/

Slide 100: “The tools traditionally used to communicate strategy— spreadsheets and powerpoint decks— are woefully inadequate for the task...” -Tim Brown, IDEO

Slide 101: “...because it’s pictorial, Design describes the world in a way that is not open to many interpretations. Designers, by making a film, scenario, or prototype, can help people emotionally experience the thing that the strategy seeks to describe.” -Tim Brown, IDEO

Slide 103: e! e! re fz i r p The Falcon's design is inspired by...?

Slide 104: e! e! re fz i r p The Falcon's design is inspired by...? a hamburger, with the cockpit being an olive on the side.

Slide 105: Lesson X: BE PASSIONATE, BE PREPARED TO GO AT IT ALONE, AND EXPECT THINGS TO GO WRONG

Slide 106: Few people believed in the script 2nd day of shooting, the Sahara had the first major rainfall in 50 years! ILM ran behind schedule Many technical problems with robots Lucas had to go to the hospital at one point Film came close to being shelved

Slide 107: “ It was very hard for us to wrap our heads around the idea of a golden robot and a little beer can. We just didn’t know what it meant. But George never gave up and he worked and worked and worked. Hal Barwood

Slide 108: It was the first two weeks of shooting, we had run into a lot of weather problems, the sets had blown down, I didn’t get everything shot. It was a disaster. At that point, I was pretty depressed. saying ‘Boy, I’ve gotten myself way in over my head. I don’t know what I’m going to do...’ George Lucas

Slide 109: ...they [ILM] had pretty much spent half their budget and only produced 4 shots, none of which I would accept. George Lucas

Slide 110: Video Clip - footage from ‘Empire of Dreams’ showing various struggles Lucas went through...

Slide 111: “ “It is amazing what you can do when you have a vision, when you have an ambition, and when you can bend other people’s will to your desire. And the thing that kept it focused towards the ambitions was George’s vision and his passion for the ideas.” Harisson Ford

Slide 112: Lesson XI: Lesson Two: LET THE VISION DRIVE THE LORUM IPSUM TECHNOLOGY

Slide 113: Three letters: ILM

Slide 114: “ Don’t worry about how we’re going to do it, we just want to see an impression of what these scenes are going to look like on the screen... George Lucas, speaking to Ralph McQuarrie about concept paintings for Star Wars

Slide 115: We started out with almost no experience in building models in this quantity or this type... Grant McCune

Slide 116: We took the concept of motion control... and we made it production savvy, by tying it into a computer, which at that point was custom built microprocessors. There were no PCs... We built them from scratch. John Dykstra

Slide 117: Focus on people and interactions. Not interfaces.

Slide 118: Design first. Build later.

Slide 119: “How do people think? Technology should map to that. —Rashmi Sinha

Slide 120: How applications are traditionally designed: User Interface Logic Data (Visual explanation from Adaptive Path)

Slide 121: How applications are traditionally designed: User Interface Logic Data (Visual explanation from Adaptive Path)

Slide 122: How customers view an application User Interface Magic! (Visual explanation from Adaptive Path)

Slide 123: How modern applications are designed: User Interface Logic Data (Visual explanation from Adaptive Path)

Slide 124: How modern applications are designed: User Interface Logic Data (Visual explanation from Adaptive Path)

Slide 125: Lesson XII: GET THE DETAILS RIGHT / KNOW WHEN TO LET GO

Slide 126: e! e! re fz i r p hese two fonts. ame either of t N

Slide 127: e! e! re fz i r p hese two fonts. ame either of t N A: Trade Gothic (top), Franklin Gothic (bottom)

Slide 128: “The details are not the details. They make the design.” -Charles Eames

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