Miniature Gardens and Micro/Macro Scales to support the User
Chaim Gingold wrote 2003 an interesting thesis with the title "Miniature Gardens & Magic Crayons: Games, Spaces, & Worlds". The topic is generally about orientation, participation and navigation in gaming worlds and I really wonder why so few people in application design don't lend some good wisdom from the game designers. Gingold writes:
"Gardens, like games, are compact, self-sustained worlds we can immerse ourselves in. Japanese gardens often contain a multiplicity of environments and places, such as mountains, oceans, or forests that we can look at, walk around, or interact with. Gardens are a way to think about the aesthetic, cognitive, and representational aspects of game space."
Offer the user an overview of "where she is" and "what to explore" (micro and macro reading) and you will be rewarded by higher motivation and willingness to explore by the user. The most interesting read from the thesis is chapter two, where Chaim analyzes the work from Shigeru Miyamoto, Will Wright, and Seymour Papert in terms of the aesthetics of miniature worlds.
