Foci of Facets

By embracing the notion of someone who 1) explores artistry and long-Term global well-being through game design and 2) makes music, I have many facets briefly described below.

Game design structures. Striving to produce more fun, immersive, and engaging game design experiences. Exploring how to achieve non-traditional design goals through game design.

Music making. Leveraging aural power to imbue rich beauty.

Delineating game aesthetics. Exacting language around the practices of game design and game play.

Artistic experimentation with physical and digital media. Toying with material to experiment with the senses and audience perception.

Arts and media as a source of expression. Producing artifacts as a site and state of being, of cultural and anthropological existence.

Long-term possible futures. Using “anticipatory illumination” to consider the potential of global interconnectedness and greater global welfare, including protection of the vulnerable and continued growth and thriving of human civilization.

Practical and imaginative short-term solutions. Applying critical lenses to societal systems and understandings of morality to envision practical solutions to present challenges, primarily governance, environmental, and power.

Imaginary worlds. Building worlds to test out narratives, lived experiences, and outcomes of imaginary systems.

Cognitive interpretation and visual representation of abstract ideas. Experimenting and revising how to communicate and convey abstract ideas, typically about topics discussed in this section.

Workshop facilitation. Figuring out how to connect with workshop participants and help them gain the most out of their experience.

Creative psychology. Understanding the human processes that underlies the acts of above, and also how to better facilitate these acts in others. Exploring topics such as personality, expression, imagination, play, and constructivism. 

Being silly. There should be an amount of levity in many of the things that we do.

Bio

(some bio that I probably need to update)

Andrew is a designer, artist, gamer, educator, futures-thinker, systems-thinker, researcher, creative technologist, and occasional composer who aims to use creativity and technology to bring about greater social good.

Andrew received his BA at the University of Southern California, showing interest in music, economics, and computer science.  Eventually, Andrew applied to and enrolled in the new Interactive Entertainment (Game Design) program. The program helped rekindle his artistic/creative side, while also reinforcing his passion for video game design. He focused on serious games and games for change, eventually working at a nonprofit where he helped develop ideas for a game aimed at raising HIV/AIDS awareness.

Further wanting to explore the fusion of technology, learning, and expressive media, Andrew earned his MA in Education, Instructional Technologies from San Francisco State University. While earning his Master’s, he worked at the University of California, San Francisco, assisting in the development of massively open online courses (MOOCs). He also developed a Drupal-based web project for his thesis that aimed to exist as an instructional resource for those looking to develop creativity.

To expand on his artistry and interest in learning/education, Andrew enrolled in the educational doctorate program of Art and Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. He helped lead the transformation of the sculpture studio into a three-dimensional digital fabrication studio known as the Thingspace.  He is currently working on his dissertation on the aesthetics of global futures in games for change.