14-04-25 Reflection & Creative Development

Yesterday, I managed to complete a fairly effective animation addressing a common misconception about ADHD: the belief that it exists on a linear spectrum. In reality, ADHD is not a spectrum disorder in the traditional sense—it presents in highly varied, non-linear ways.

The animation visualises this distinction through a radial model rather than a straight line, showing how different aspects of executive dysfunction can appear in vastly different combinations. It's designed to challenge dismissive phrases like "everyone has a little ADHD," which can be invalidating and harmful.

I used Keynote to build it. It's clearly made with presentation software, but for now, it works. I hit a few snags when trying to animate multiple elements on one slide—Keynote isn't built for complex animation—but I figured out workarounds. Long-term, I'd love to learn proper 2D animation tools, but that's outside the scope of this project for now.

🎬 Mission Briefing Video: Early Version

I also started building the intro video for the immersive mission briefing. The concept is that participants will undergo an "eye scan" that identifies them as activated agents and displays some basic data.

Without access to proper animation software, I initially tried to simulate this in Keynote. The result was... underwhelming. So, I sourced a couple of animated assets from YouTube (eye scans, facial scan overlays) and imported those instead. They look much better and will help deliver the aesthetic I'm aiming for—somewhere between Terminator tech and surveillance thriller.

Next step: integrate these assets into the immersive experience in a way that feels seamless.

🔧 Technical Issues & Next Actions

The wall misalignment issue in the immersive software is still causing problems—assets look correct during design but misalign in the actual room. I need to stop working around this and just email tech support today. If I'm going to train staff to use this system, this issue has to be fixed. It's not just a me-problem—others will face the same frustrations.

📚 Reading Reflection: Empire of Normality

I recently read Empire of Normality by Robert Chapman. It's a compelling book with valuable context on how capitalism has historically pathologised neurodivergent people. While it wasn't directly useful for instructional content or practical training strategies, it's helped inspire the worldbuilding and atmospheric elements of the escape room—particularly in the form of scattered newspaper clippings, headlines, and embedded metaphors.

It's less about delivering information, and more about planting subtle seeds—getting people to feel or question something rather than being explicitly told. That's still valuable.

📊 Evidence Log: Problem → Solution Mapping

I also tested a new method yesterday for tracking development: a problem-solving table that logs:

• the issue encountered,

• what caused it,

• how I addressed it,

• and what the learning takeaway was.

This turned out to be very effective, not only for tracking progress but for evidencing the learning criteria tied to the FMP. I may share this method with colleagues and students, though I'll need to check whether it aligns with institutional policy. Either way, it's a strong internal tool I'll continue using.

✅ Today's Goals:

• Contact support about the wall alignment issue.

• Continue refining the intro video, possibly layering in additional assets or effects.

• Capture and document more evidence using the problem/solution format.

• Lay the groundwork for integrating the ADHD animation into the wider narrative structure.

• Make incremental progress, even if only in smaller background tasks.