FX Talks: Tim Hunkin on the divorce of making and design


Is there anything Tim Hunkin can’t do? If you Google him, the internet describes him as an engineer, cartoonist, writer, artist and all round funny guy.


It is this sense of humour that comes through in all his work and has been the basis of his latest project of designing arcade games.

In his 2017 FX talk, Tim Hunkin invites us to think about the divorce between designing and making things and why it exists. He shows through his own creations, that not all design needs to take place behind a computer screen and that sometimes through piecing together prototypes and making mistakes, the design can be improved greatly.

An example that he uses is a recent arcade game that he engineered. The product reimagines traditional games found at the pier.

“There’s a wonderful tradition of bad taste in amusement arcades, there used to be lots of scenes of public executions, there were hangings and garrotting , electrocutions all sorts of things, and there were hen pecked husbands and crying babies, and I decided I wanted to bring this tradition up to date,” said Hunkin.

Introducing, Hunkin’s arcade game: ‘Divorce.’

The premise of the game involves two puppet like structures, a man and a woman, fighting over a small house like a tug of war. Each puppet is holding on to either side of the house and the players spin separate handles until eventually one puppet wins and the house breaks in two to reveal the interior of the little home, including a sad looking hoover and two very sad looking children.

Hunkin’s game is tipping its hat to the dark humour found in traditional pier attractions. Who can forget Judy, the long suffering wife of Punch?

In the talk, Hunkin walks the audience through the design process of the game and explains how through creating prototypes, inviting people to play it, and listening to feedback, he developed the idea way beyond what he originally imagined.

He describes encountering a problem early on with the design:

“It was only when I tried it out with somebody else that I realised I had made a completely hopeless game, because if two people turned the handles at roughly the same speed the house in the middle just stayed stock still! What I wanted was for the house to rock backwards and forwards, so I had to go back to the drawing board.”

He talks through the various stages of prototypes, from the characters having ‘surges of rage,’ to incorporating the lawyers sorting out the divorce into the game. He admits that some ideas worked, while others got left on the cutting room floor, but that it was important to try them all out.

‘In a way I feel I learn more from mistakes then I do when things go right, it’s another interesting challenge.’ Said Hunkin.

Towards the end of his talk, Hunkin invites us to reassess how we approach design and architecture.

“There is a history in engineering design of using many more prototypes. When people talk about design and development, the development is often messing about with proto types. It’s not common with architecture and other design things, but I wonder … that perhaps there are advantages to other disciplines in terms of design, in integrating designing and making more closely.” He said.

He encourages designers and architects to not be afraid of merging the process of designing and making, as it can lead to an improved final product:

“When I look out at the mainstream design world, to me it seems bizarre that most of you spend your lives staring at a computer screen. I just think that you might have more fun, or the designs might turn out a bit better if you jumped away from you screen and got out your hack saw or I don’t know just did something else,” Said Hunkin.

To see Hunkin's game for your self and find out more about designing and making watch Tim Hunkin's full FX talk below.

 








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