If You Could Contiuned

Thinking about it, digital technology has the potential to truly democratise art and design.

If You Could

Here is a really interesting series of prints from a range of designers/illustrators under the theme: If you could do anything tomorrow, what would it be?

http://www.ifyoucould.co.uk/issuetwoprints.htm

Following on from my previous post about the impersonality of digital design, I wonder if the way this website has been formatted amplifies this. Using a scroll bar across the bottom seems such a generic way to navigate, jarring with the creativity of the work shown and therefore detracting from it.

Shown on the first picture on the website, the work in the gallery has been positioned using a simple grid system. This allows the audience to absorb the work along two planes rather than one, breaking up the monotony and repetition created by scroll bars. If the website could follow this format, in my opinion it would be much more successful.

This does however raise questions of the purpose of the website as opposed to the gallery. The website being the foundation to sell the work and the gallery used to promote the prints. Would the website work better if it had a stronger connection with the format of the gallery? On the flip side, should the gallery be more like the website? With work being projected rather than printed. This raises interesting questions as to what surface we project on. As designers will we consider surface instead of stock?

Photocopy Mistake

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A bit of experimentation-simply moving the cover of the book as the scanner records the image. Admittedly the first time I did this it was a mistake but the simple concept of recording the movement of an object with a light behind is exciting.

I could imagine something similar happening in one of the scrolling ads you get at bus stops or on the tube. Is there a way to create a light show by cutting holes into the moving section? I could imagine a tunnel in the underground with rows of these lights synchronised, possibly even reacting to the movement within the space.

Vasarley in Black & White

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I found this book when rummaging through the collections at Marcus Campbell Books. The whole book looks at simple ways to trick the eye using line and form. The movement that is created by this really interests me. It's almost the anti-digital, using visual trickery to do in 2D what we recreate in digital.
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http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/kic/~akitaoka/index-e.html
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Do we resort to digital because things can be animated really quickly? I'm interested in the idea that there will always be a need for human interaction in design. Is digital or can digital design ever be as personal as something that is held and has a tactile as well as visual element? This is especially poignant today with the issues of global warming. How can something as impersonal as something on the screen have the ability to be as personal as something we hold in our hand?

Mark Campbell Books - Next to the Tate Modern

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As well as a great selection of more traditional art books; there are various artist books and exhibition catalogues. Often the content of some of these isn't as inspiring as their actual design. If you're going to the Tate, it is well worth having a look.