Data-driven Graphic Design: Creative Coding for Visual Communication (Required Reading Range)

"Digital technology has not only revolutionized the way designers work, but also the kinds of designs they produce. The development of the computer as a design environment has encouraged a new breed of digital designer; keen to explore the unique creative potential of the computer as an input/output device. Data-driven Graphic Design introduces the creative potential of computational data and how it can be used to inform and create everything from typography, print and moving graphics to interactive design and physical installations. Using code as a creative environment allows designers to step outside the boundaries of commercial software tools, and create a set of unique, digitally informed pieces of work. The use of code offers a new way of thinking about and creating design for the digital environment. Each chapter outlines key concepts and techniques, before exploring a range of innovative projects through case studies and interviews with the artists and designers who created them. These provide an inspirational, real-world context for every technique. Finally each chapter concludes with a Code section, guiding you through the process of experimenting with each technique yourself (with sample projects and code examples using the popular Processing language supplied online to get you started)."--Publisher's description. Digital technology has not only revolutionized the way designers work, but also the kinds of designs they produce. The development of the computer as a design environment has encouraged a new breed of digital designer; keen to explore the unique creative potential of the computer as an input/output device. 'Data-driven Graphic Design' introduces the creative potential of computational data and how it can be used to inform and create everything from typography, print and moving graphics to interactive design and physical installations. Using code as a creative environment allows designers to step outside the boundaries of commercial software tools, and create a set of unique, digitally informed pieces of work. The use of code offers a new way of thinking about and creating design for the digital environment. Each chapter outlines key concepts and techniques, before exploring a range of innovative projects through case studies and interviews with the artists and designers who created them. These provide an inspirational, real-world context for every technique.0Finally each chapter concludes with a Code section, guiding you through the process of experimenting with each technique yourself (with sample projects and code examples using the popular Processing language supplied online to get you started) Designers and code : The computer as a creative environment ; Code: manipulating the medium ; Getting started ; Code: vocabulary and instructions Drawing with numbers : Drawing instructions ; Number patterns ; Repetition: systemic drawings ; Complexity from simplicity ; Random drawings ; Dynamic/generative drawings ; Code: drawing functions Growth and form : Nature as inspiration ; Drawing as growth ; Organic shapes: spirals and waves ; Complex mathematical models ; Digital eco-systems ; Environmental forces: gravity, elasticity ; Spotlight on Daniel Brown ; Code: digital environments Dynamic typography : Form and content ; Movement and interactive type ; Text as data source ; External data ; Spotlight on Ariel Malka ; Code: computational typography Seeing the world : Digital spaces ; Large screen projections: body movement ; Small screen displays: digital mirrors ; Ways of seeing ; Seeing people ; Seeing distance and proximity ; Spotlight on Theo Watson and Emily Gobeille ; Code: seeing the world Large and live external data : The data-lived life ; Code as a data visualization tool ; Data sources ; Mapping data ; Mapping society ; Spotlight on Jer Thorp ; Code: Getting and using external data. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1 DESIGNERS AND CODE 2 DRAWING WITH NUMBERS 3 GROWTH AND FORM 4 DYNAMIC TYPOGRAPHY 5 SEEING THE WORLD 6 LARGE AND LIVE EXTERNAL DATA CONCLUSION APPENDIX BIBLIOGRAPHY WEBOGRAPHY PICTURE CREDITS INDEX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS