Authorship, Programming and Data-driven Design

Maria Arenas Senior Project F/2015 D.Hamilton

Authorship, Programming, and Data-driven Design Tokyo 2020 Olympics

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Can a system create something beautiful?

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Can a system create something meaningful?

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The artist d merely pro things, the produces id

does not oduce e artist deas.

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he possibilities and implications of T programming and automation on ideas of authorship and creativity

A program is a set of instructions presented in a spoken or written language.

By this definition, programming has been used by artists, as well as designers, for decades. In 1923, László Moholy-Nagy’s produced artwork by describing its composition through the telephone to an enamel factory. In the 1960s, Fluxus artists such as Yoko Ono and Sol Lewitt created artwork in the form of written instructions for the viewer to complete.

Programming the actual creation of an artwork, provided a significant shift in the way that the piece was read. It emphasized concept over aesthetics, it transformed the audience from a passive viewer to an active participant. Most importantly, it showed that the artist does not merely produce things: the artist produces ideas.

Consequently, these changes also raise an important question regarding authorship and creativity. Is the artist’s hand further removed or ever present as their artwork continuously creates and recreates itself?

For more than three decades, the late artist On Kawara sent daily telegrams to various friends and artists that simply stated “I am still alive”. To this day, a year after his death, the art piece lives on through a Twitterbot run by Icelandic digital media artist Pall Thayer under the handle @On_Kawara.

Thayer did this without the Kawara’s permission. If an artist continues another artist’s work in a different form, can they claim it as their own?

A Twitterbot is a program that produces automated posts on the microblogging site Twitter based on a script written by the programmer. Twitterbots used for promotional purposes typically appear as spam. However bots have also been used as experiments and conceptual art projects for artists and programmers such as @stealth_mountain, @accidental_575, and the infamous @horse_ebooks.

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L谩szl贸 Moholy-Nagy Construction in Enamel 2, 1923

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Yoko Ono Snow Piece, 1963 from Grapfruit pub. 1964

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Sol Lewitt Wall Drawing 811, 1996

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Sol Lewitt Wall Drawing 811, 1996

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On Kawara I Am Still Alive telegram to Sol Lewitt, 1970

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On Kawara I Am Still Alive telegram to Albert Naan, 1983

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Date of On Kawara’s death July 10, 2014

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@On_Kawara by Pall Thayer Twitterbot that tweets “I AM STILL ALIVE” daily.

Screenshot on Sept 7, 2015

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@StealthMountain Twitterbot that alerts uers that they typed “sneak peak” instead of “sneak peek”

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@accidental575 “I am a robot/that finds haiku on Twitter/made by accident�

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@Horse_ebooks Twitter spambot promoting ebooks turned internet phenomenon turned conceptual art installation by Jacob Bakila and Thomas Bender

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The system the identity be timeless adaptive. I in a way, al constantly

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Redefining Visual Identity

Data designers and creative coders have been using data as a tool for graphic design to make information accessible through infographics and interactive websites. How can data, code, and automation be used as a design tool beyond infographics?

In his essay, On Speculation, Jon Sueda talks about the Slovakian designer Peter Bil’ak’s proposal to the Het Natuurloket, the national databank for plants and animals in the Netherlands.

For their official stationary system, he presented a database-driven graphic identitiy instead of a standard logo.

The template for each new piece of instituional correspondence would begin with entering the zip code of the addressee into a database, which would generate a printed-out list of all the flora and fauna in that area, aligned flush left, in his typeface Fedra Sans. Thus, each recipient of printed material from Het Natuurloket would receive a unique description of their local agricultural makeup in addition to the other content of the missive. (Sueda, 5) It was radical because there was not one distinguishable mark. The system allows the identity to be timeless and adaptive. It is, in a way, alive and constantly changing. In Sueda’s words, “his proposal created [...] a speculation on what an identity could be, based on some future condition”.

More importantly, when Bil’ak proposed this idea, the technology for an automated database-driven design did not exist. For these reasons, it is considered “speculative design.”

Speculative in that it explores the potential of graphic design regardless of its actual feasibility at the time.

Now, in 2015, the technology exists and the data is accessible, which makes a lot of what used to be speculative actually possible. Now that feasibility is out of the question, it is merely a matter of applying speculative design practically.

Donald Knuth’s Metafont, a program that defines glyphs by

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a set of editable variables, remained speculative until Dexter Sinister used it for the Kadist visual identity. The logotype uses time as a variable. As a result, it changes slightly every day. It is a living logo that eliminates the need for a redesign.

Removing the terms “speculative” and “traditional” in the language that describes graphic design practices is importawnt as it opens up the possiblities of what a graphic identity, and graphic design can be.

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decides me, is ner still e for n?

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Data Visualization as Identity System

Following from Bil’ak’s radical proposal and Dexter Sinister’s simple, but innovative logotype, in what other ways can we use technology and data in graphic design?

Part of being a graphic designer is being a decision maker and a database driven design splits this responsibility. If the visual identity is at the mercy of real data and rooted in real time, it is out of the designer’s control. It is an organic design, free to grow within the parameters that the designer has set. If the data decides the outcome, is the designer still responsible for the design?

The Olympics is a global cultural event that happens every four years. Getting chosen to be the host city is a big deal.

Being tasked to design “The Look of the Games” for that year is a great opportunity as well as a big responsibility for any graphic designer or studio.

The chosen logo for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics was pulled because it was plagiarized.

I propose a “bullet proof” identity system for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that will avoid controversy and remain relevant in 5 years by utilizing the inherent neutrality of algorithms and raw data, a hybrid of data visualization and branding.

Like caring for a bonsai tree, the visual identity calls for constant pruning in the form of community participation. The identity takes shape through the data input, over a 5 year period, by individuals all over the world. Like water is to the tree, the data is to the identity.

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Visualizing the data

Think of the circle as a metaphor for the Olympic Rings and a Tree ring. Each ring is divided into 12 sections At the end of each section is a data point and each point represents one of 12 questions on an online survey.

The responses to each question affect the final shape of the ring. Pushing and pulling its edges to into a unique organic form that symbolizes each individual.

The raw data can then be processed in different ways in order to generate other visual elements to be used in other applications that are not just decorative.

The Primary Logo The annual average data from global survey responses for the years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 comprise the primary logo. Like the tree rings of the bonsai, each ring nests into the next.

Commemorative Stamps There are six commemorative stamps: one for every year leading up to and including 2020. Each stamp features the version of the logo derived the data from each year; beginning with the circle on 2015 to the final logo on 2020.

Posters and Tickets To accompany each iteration of the logo, a new poster campaign is launched every year. Each campaign will commission an artist, designer, or illustrator to direct the design. For example, the 2018 campaign features a photographic approach, 2019 an illustrative approach, 2020 an infographic approach; each bearing the logo for that year.

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Simulation of the Tokyo 2020 logo for each year starting from 2015–2019

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

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2015 commemorative stamp with the logo for that year which is also the starting point: a circle

tokyo 20 20 80 짜 20 15 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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2016 commemorative stamp with the logo (simulated) for that year.

tokyo 20 20 80 짜 20 16 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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2017 commemorative stamp with the logo (simulated) for that year. 2016 nests into 2017.

tokyo 20 80 20 짜 20 17 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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2018 commemorative stamp with the logo (simulated) for that year. 2017 nests into 2018.

tokyo 20 80 20 짜 20 18 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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2019 commemorative stamp with the logo (simulated) for that year. 2018 nests into 2019.

tokyo 20 80 20 짜 20 19 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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2020 commemorative stamp with the final logo (simulated).

2019 nests into 2020. This iteration of the logo is used in all Olympic materials.

tokyo 20 80 20 짜 20 20 THE GAMES OF THE XXXII OLYMPIAD

OFFICIAL COMMEMORATIVE STAMP

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Three samples of the 2018 poster campaign featuring a photographic approach.

It references the Olympics’ (visual) history by utilizing photos from the previous games to promote the upcoming games.

It also bears the logo generated from the average data collected from 2015–2018.

tokyo 20 20

opening ceremony + torch lighting july 24, 2020 national olympic stadium Yoshinori Sakai lighting the Olympic Torch, Tokyo1964

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tokyo 20 20

indoor track cycling aug 6, 2020

Australian Indoor Track Cyclists, Sydney 2000

tokyo 20 20

synchronised swimming aug 5, 2020

Australian Olympic Synchronised Swimming Team, London 2012

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Three samples of the 2019 poster campaign featuring an illustrative approach.

It uses the data to generate meaningful and visually black shapes represent erage data collected on graphic elements.

2016, 2017, 2018 andinteresting 2019 The black shapes represent the average data collected on the date of the schedule event for 2016–2019.

It also bears the logo generated from the average data collected from 2015–2019.

indoor track cycling 08/06/2020

tokyo 20 20

opening ceremony + torch lighting 07/24/2020

these black shapes represent the average data collected on Jul 24, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

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tokyo 20 20

these black shapes represent the average data collected on Aug. 6, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

indoor track cycling 08/06/2020

tokyo 20 20

these black shapes represent the average data collected on Aug. 5, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019

synchronised swimming 08/05/2020

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Three samples of the 2020 poster campaign featuring a typographic and infographic approach. It uses individual data visualizations as graphic elements. The typeface used is NOTO. A font developed by Google that is designed to work with every language.

It also bears final logo generated from the average data collected from 2015–2020.

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opening ceremony + torch lighting

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july 24, 2020 national olympic stadium

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と う opening ceremony + torch lighting july 24, 2020 national olympic stadium

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The official tickets are derived from the 2019 poster campaign.

tokyo E NI NG 2 0 OP CE RE M O N Y AN D 2 0 TO RCH L I GH T I NG

07/24 18:30 EN T RA NC E BLO C K R OW SEAT

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tokyo N DO OR T RACK 2 0 ICYCL ING 20

08/06 15:00 EN T RA NC E BLO C K R OW SEAT

1 12 A 4

OLY MP IC S TAD IU M

tokyo NCH RO N I SE D 2 0 SY SWI M M I NG 20

08/05 09:30 EN T RA NC E BLO C K R OW SEAT

1 12 A 4

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OLY MP IC S TAD IU M