MOMA DESIGN AND THE ELASTIC MIND BRIEF Design and the Elastic Mind,” an exhilarating new exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, makes the case that through the mechanism of design, scientific advances of the last decade have at least opened the way to unexpected visual pleasures. For this brief we have been asked to produce a ‘Design Led’ Screensaver for the MOMA show. Contemporary screensavers are used primarily for entertainment, security or to display system status information. In this case we are encouraged to find a creative way to design a moving animation that reflects a concept within the theme of ‘Design and the Elastic Mind’. Key elements that we should also bare in mind are that it be: experimental, generative, data aware, innotative, future facing. All of which need to avoid any space reference, design Cliches, 4Chan or phone references. The technical output is preffered Processing, but can accept any other format as long as it communicates the visual message and design related concept. In order to understand more about the exhibition and what it contains, it is essential to thoroughally look at the MOMA interactive website that alows you to browse the various related projects in a innovative way. CONCEPT
For this brief I began looking through the MOMA exhibition website as advised and found the work very inspirational. I also did my own research on other existing design orientated screensavers that provided various visual interpretations of data or sound. Once I had an idea of what could be achieved using processing and also what I could realistically learn to code myself I began brainstorming concepts and ideas. Although I had many to choose from only two appealed to my interest in coding. The first being numbers colliding to create an explotion of morse visual codes, and the second being a simple visual that demonstrates louder and quieter sounds from the room, thus relating to the concept of space and sounds. Ultimately after experimenting with both I decided to go ahead with the 2nd idea as I was more confident in experimenting with a code that was not too complex to alter and change. The visual element would consist of a shape that was following a continuous pattern but according to the loudness of the audio in the room the shape would get larger, thus speediing up the rotation of the pattern. I began by incorporating the basic code for the internal mic input. This would determine the audio throughout the sketch.
Thilini Thewarapperuma , GDNM Y3 Page 1
Thilini Thewarapperuma , GDNM Y3 Page 2
INSPIRATION
DEVELOPMENT
My inspiration to produce a screensaver that reflect the sound within the space of a room was my interest in producing a visual interpretation of the noise we make and how it can be determined and changed by ourselves, therefore changing the output of the design. I wanted to incorporate an interactivity aspect to the design as it is an increasingly popular form of the new future facing technology. The visuals I intend to produce will be a pattern consisting of circles that will eventually fill the screen will a sketch that will reflect a visual recording of the sound within the room for a period of one minute. Every minute the pattern will dissapear and start again allowing a new visual to be created, thus making everyminute a different visual from the previous. reacts to the right tmto determine an innovative and experimental visual output that can be viewed by the audience. After all that is what contempoary screensavers are known and appreciated for today. Design has expanded into new fields, including the interactions between people and objects. Responsive design features objects that respond to our needs rather than awaiting our instructions. The tagging of information in our environment makes the world into a live information platform.
The devlopment process involved me creating a generative and and experimental processing sequence which would fit within the ambience of the exhibition. The website itself provided me with the insight into the asthetics of the work and therefore I incorporated the elements of data aware and viewer interation into my design. I set the audio input to read any sound within the room which would then determine the activity of the sequence. As the sound increases within the room the generative shapes will begin to animate presenting different outcomes according to the different levels of sound input. I designed each set of shapes individually and brought them togather on one sketch, where I then allocated each one different levels of sound to appear. I also added the element of colour to increase the visual appeal, as screensavers are usually asthetically pleasing. The overall outcome of my screensaver it to promote interaction whilst reflecting the future facing exhibition.
MOMA DESIGN AND THE ELASTIC MIND