School_UCA Farnham
Brief_Research into the creative industries relationship with technology, investigate emerging trends, implement them in own practice and speculate on their impact. Present written findings and outcomes in a self published book (this final major project brief was written in collaboration with tutors).
The documented research became a manifesto for understanding the technology we use, so as not to let it make discrete decisions for us.
Type treatments were achieved using a custom built machine, made from open source technology (the implementation of emerging technology into my own practice). More information on the device can be found here.
My research led me to the phenomena of default design, where a designer (or user) allows the software they are working with to make many discrete decisions. For instance, this chart displays the leading values Indesign and Illustrator set standard type sizes at by default – if a designer does not make a conscious decision they are relinquishing the ability to make meaning.
I also investigated the world of craft, a field that has faced deskilling due to new technology, in an attempt to hypothesis on what the course of action should be for today’s creative workers.
The conclusion focuses on open source technology, and the role it could play in making us technologically independent.
