Design Guide

Our Tribal Brain:

is processed by the Limbic System in our brain, which has no capacity for language and is strictly focused on how we feel. The sense of belonging to a group is among the strongest drivers of human action and addresses the "why" we might believe or do many things. In your media, ask, then answer, the question: do we share a common belief about the way the world is or the way it should be.

• The team-based gameplay and competition could carry the weight of this.
• Inclusive historical and role play character choices can connect a diverse range of people to the history of GR..

Our Primal Brain

The hindbrain and medulla is sometimes referred to as our "lizard" or "fight or flight" brains. It is our emotional selves. Targeting one or more the 6 basic primal emotions we all share: joy, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness, anger, will anchor an effective design strategy. Here is a more extensive and nuanced list.

• The art, design, animation and character stories will carry the weight of this.

Our Logical Brain

Evaluation occurs in our neocortex, which evolved as we became homo sapiens. This is the appeal to logic. It's where rational and analytical thought occurs and language is processed. Facts, figures and diagrams are created and processed here. The value we assign them, however, is profoundly influenced by our primal and tribal natures.

• The game-play; navigating the space, assessing clues, and making purchasing choices should trigger this.

Our Knowledgable Brain

This is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual encompassing the whole of their knowledge and point of view. It is built on lessons learned and remembered. The hippocampus is where long term memories are organized , but the actual memory bits are located at various places in the cortex where they are associated with sensory experiences and other tangential, previously stored memories that connect with and provide context for the new ones. Experiences that affect a person's world view, must be memorable and include an explicit or implicit call to action.

• The educational lessons will shape this... but only if it is wrapped in engaging narrative.

Overall Experience

• Use production methods and genres, such as animation, live-action video and games, that can compete with entertainment media in popular culture.
• Include a brief, early introduction to the material that sets the overall emotional tone and builds expectations. This will create a dynamic 'expected experience' that will blend with our 'actual experience' to create a more engaging 'perceived experience'
• Maintain an anticipatory state in the user/audience by creating new and novel experiences through variety in production styles, narrative surprises and novel interactivity.
• Create content narratives written from or to the point of view of the target audience.

Games

• should integrate the informational/educational content into the gameplay and avoid simply using the gameplay as a reward system.

Linear Time-Based Works

• such as animation, books and video, should consider a four part story that includes:
  1. Life in Balance: the world in its normal state
  2. Set up: the problem is presented, usually in the form of conflict. The conflict can be with the environment, external natural forces, the self or other persons.
  3. Body: the problem for the protagonist is exacerbated by internal or external forces (can have one, several or many parts).
  4. Resolution: the problem solved, balance restored ... or not. Optionally, the resolution can require one of the main protagonists or antagonists to make a moral decision in order to move the plot to it's end point. Many of the most successful stories in history contain this "moment of grace" component.