Grid Interpretations

GRID

Interpretations Studies of Master Designers

by Caleb Smith

JOSHUA DAVIS Controlled Chaos

Photo courtesy offfestival 2009

Artist, designer, author, and lecturer Joshua Davis creates his work by coding virtual systems that output chaotic visual iterations. He uses his design eye to select and refine whatever chaos generates before him. Sometimes creating decorative illustration, and other times adding typography for communicative work. Davis uses digital alchemy to retain an element of the organic within his generative work, or as Mark Sinclair describes it “programming work that echoes natural evolutionary systems”. Trained in Illustration and Art History at Pratt Institute, Davis abandoned his art degree in favor of focusing on the then virgining world wide web. The punk rock, former cocaine-addict, skateboarding, tattooed designer thrives in the boundary between controlling all the variables and humbly accepting what randomness offers back.

Originally from a Denver suburb, Joshua Davis lived in Colorado from his birth in the early 70s until moving to New York City in 1992. He even worked as a snowboard instructor in the Arapahoe Basin ski area. This role wasn’t surprising, since Davis was a sponsored amateur skateboarder as a teenager. Davis would redirect his life after a city bench he had painted received local press–moving to New York to study Art at the Pratt Institute.

A pivotal opportunity for Davis arrived when Netscape 2.0 was released in 1995. A school friend had turned Davis on to the internet as a cheap, approachable publishing platform, since Davis’s children's book prototypes weren’t getting attention from publishing houses. What Davis discovered in HTML and Javascript code, and later Flash, was a set of new, creative tools. His web projects PrayStation, Once Upon a Forest, and Dreamless are public experiments with chaos in controlled spaces wherein he refines his craft, advertises his skill, and connects with the greater community.

He worked for high-end Manhattan design firms–with high-profile clients–throughout the 90s dotcom-boom, and as of 2007 lives and works in New York with his wife and daughter.

Within the context of the design community, Joshua Davis is a forerunner. His use of code and software as artistic tools make him part of a new breed of designer wherein experience, interface, and experimentation are paramount. The following quote Davis explains his philosophy on design and web development, “We should try to evolve the medium by making intuitive systems that educate the user–not design to what level we think they can handle.” His approach to design is that of a designer very familiar with commercial work. His dual role as web designer, and printmaker place him in the sometimes contradictory position between commercial design, and artistic creation.

By tapping into formal qualities derived from stretching digital tools and chaos, Joshua Davis arrives at original design products and experiences.

BIBLIOGRAPHY Anonymous, “Profile of Joshua Davis” The World Building Institute, accessed November 15, 2016, http://worldbuilding.institute/people/joshua-davis Finck Nick, “Interview with Joshua Davis,” Digital Web Magazine, November 14, 2000, accessed November 15, 2016, http://www.digital-web. com/articles/joshua_davis Kirsner Scott, “The Chaos of Joshua Davis,” Wired Magazine, March 1, 2016, accessed November 15, 2016, https://www.wired. com/2006/03/joshdavis/ Sinclair Mark, “The Geek Shall Inherit the Earth: Computer Programmers Have An Important Role in All Areas of Creativity. Their Rise to Power Means Code is Our Newest Creative Language,” Creative Review, December 1, 2003, 58-61

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Design Master:

Joshua Davis

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

Generative Art

Random

GUIDES IDENTIFIED

Design Master:

Joshua Davis

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

Generative Art

Random

INTERPRETATION

Design Master:

Joshua Davis

Master Quote:

“Code is just as artistic as using paint and a brush.�

C Cooddee is just as

ar tistic

as using paintand a brush .

INTP. W/ GUIDES

Design Master:

Joshua Davis

Master Quote:

“Code is just as artistic as using paint and a brush.�

C Cooddee is just as

ar tistic

as using paintand a brush .

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Design Master:

April Grieman

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

New Wave

Transitional

GUIDES IDENTIFIED

Design Master:

April Grieman

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

New Wave

Transitional

INTERPRETATION

Design Master Interpreted:

April Grieman

“Mac is just another kind of pencil.”

t s u j t s s u i j s ic

a M c a M The

Master Quote:

e r h o t n a

n d i k

o f

. l i c n pe

INTP. W/ GUIDES

Design Master Interpreted:

April Grieman

“Mac is just another kind of pencil.�

t s u j t s s u i j s ic

a M c a M The

Master Quote:

e r h o t n a

n d i k

o f

. l i c n pe

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Design Master:

Raymond Pettibon

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

SoCal Punk

Grid

GUIDES IDENTIFIED

Design Master:

Raymond Pettibon

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

SoCal Punk

Grid

INTERPRETATION

Design Master Interpreted:

Raymond Pettibon

C O M P

Master Quote:

“....It’s possible to do your best...without competing.”

E

T

I

N G

– RAYMOND PETTIBON

INTP. W/ GUIDES

Design Master Interpreted:

Raymond Pettibon

C O M P

Master Quote:

“....It’s possible to do your best...without competing.”

E

T

I

N G

– RAYMOND PETTIBON

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

Design Master:

Karl Gerstner

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

Swiss

Grid

GUIDES IDENTIFIED

Design Master:

Karl Gerstner

Design Movement:

Typographic System:

Swiss

Grid

INTERPRETATION

Design Master Interpreted:

Karl Gerstner

Karl Gerstner

Master Quote:

“The creative process can be reduced to the art of selection”

“The creative process can be reduced to the art of selection.”

INTP. W/ GUIDES

Design Master Interpreted:

Karl Gerstner

Karl Gerstner

Master Quote:

“The creative process can be reduced to the art of selection”

“The creative process can be reduced to the art of selection.”