Fred VG.

A successfully abandoned project

This weekend I spent some time on a project that I'm now abandoning. You might be surprised to hear (read) that I still consider this a success and a long term win. Here's what happened.

I wanted to create an easy and fun to digest version of my resume. My original idea was to do a cartoon-style side-scrolling game. I wrote a script and — together with my robot-interns (AI agents) — sketched a main character.

The same cartoon character shown at 3 different ages (toddler, young adult, older adult) and in a variety of poses (standing, running, jumping).

Once I had my characters and some additional assets, I vibe-coded a low-fidelity version of the game play. Think, wireframe-style backgrounds, little to no animation, and minimal game controls. So far so good, right?

A still of the low-fidelity prototype game. We see a runner run from a house. A timeline shows 2020 to 2024 and a caption reads "2020 — WFH".

Right! I'm having fun and learning a lot along the way.

There's a catch though. The animation style feels off. And the game play is boring. Time to pivot!

I decide to switch to a claymation style game. Or, if my vibe coding skills are too limited for a more complex game, a short video instead. My script only needs minor adjustments, but I need new characters and scenography.

A few claymation-style assets. The same character as a young child and as an adult, both standing in a claymation studio. And a video still of a street scene with fields in the distance.

Fast forward a couple hours, we're cooking — as the kids say. This is coming together nicely. The character design came out great, and with the help of the robots the first scene is a wrap already!

Here I am, a designer and experience strategist, busting out full-fledged animation. Of course my first thought is to keep going. But I wouldn't be good at my job if I didn't keep asking my favorite of the 5Ws questions: Why?*

I'm trying to communicate my resume information in an easy and fun way, but I'm also using this as a digital design showcase. And yes, this is fun, and will be easy to consume. But the level of effort and resources it will take to complete this are no longer a good fit. In the IDEO DVF framework (Desirable, Viable, Feasible), this is starting to look not as viable as my simple side-scroller was. If you add the ethical consideration (as Meld Studios suggests) we're clearly no longer hitting the mark. Come to think of it, as AI is making almost anything feasible, it migh be time to replace feasible with ethical.

Meld Studios version of the IDEO DVF Venn diagram, including “ethical”.

Time to rethink and rescope my interactive resume...

So, why do I consider spending several hours on this project — that I'm now abandoning — a win? Well, I had fun, learned a lot, and got to do exactly what a design strategist should do: always ask if the solution is right-sized for the problem.

"Because we can" is not a strategy. As AI makes it easier to produce things, asking "why" is more important than ever.  

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* The 5Ws are: Who, What, When, Where, and Why.