Multimodal Semiotics and Collaborative Design

process into turmoil within the research project’s limited time-span. As the virtual city was
designed according to Caitlyn’s methodological specifications, she made the final call in most
design related discussions, while Aspen and I were creating alternative designs (i.e. buildings,
interiors, open spaces, signs) and placing them into the sim for testing and evaluation. Some design
tasks, including production of the 20 superhero costumes for the bazaar and the video screen in the
museum, were either outsourced to other inworld creators, or they were collected from within the
world’s internal markets. The objects were either created or collected by various members of the
team, but they all had to be transferred to Aspen before they were placed into the city. Aspen
explains that one of SL’s structural constraints is the major reason for this specific practice. In
Aspen’s view, ‘large structures’ such as the Museum in Metrotopia contain many prims, the proper
management of which “prevents things getting messed up with various owners of various parts of
a structure.” Therefore, he explains the “normal way to build” as a form of asynchronous task
division, where each designer builds their ideas and then come together to discuss and evaluate.
Selection of ideas was mostly done by inworld discussions by avatars, in which participants
gathered in Metrotopia and discussed designs while modifying them on the spot.
Metrotopia’s design team is an example of a professionally organized interdisciplinary group,
members of which have different –yet relevant – purposes of being engaged in the collaborative
design process. The relations of hierarchy and power among the two teams had significant effects
on the shaping of visual semiotic characteristics of Metrotopia, as the priorities of the researchers
were to be satisfied before any other designerly experimentations were done. On the other hand,
the experience and domain-specific knowledge of a SL designer can often guide certain decisions,
particularly when potential affordances and/or constraints are in question. Therefore, although
several chaotic moments existed, the social organization of the design team presents a relatively
homogeneous formation and a well-defined hierarchy that is constructed for a limited time; in
contrast to the fellow co-designers of Pop Art Lab (PAL).
Pop Art Lab and the role of inworld relations in collaborative design teams
PAL is a virtual island - also known in SL as a sim - that is built for streaming popular music in
various genres while offering the visitors virtual places for avatar-to-avatar interaction, and
multimodal visual, artistic and social experiences. In contrast to Metrotopia, the design team of
PAL is established and configured by inworld relations, and the process is not professionally
contracted. Most members of the PAL design team have been spending time in SL together for
more than three years, and few (including Curiza, AmyLee and Xavier) participated in design of
several previous versions of PAL. The design process of the current (fourth) version included
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