Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

Designing through the loop: programming as a tool for aesthetic creation in the field of graphic design
“The logo is based on a visual system, an algorithm that produces
a unique logo for each person, for faculty, staff and students.
Each person can claim and own an individual shape and can use
it on their business card a personal website” (“MIT Media Lab
Identity”, 2011)
The role of the designer in this type of situation is not necessarily
the creation of a visual outcome, but rather, the establishment of
rules and the programming of systems that become autonomous
from the designer. In this piece, the computer becomes a creative
partner in charge of design decisions. Aspects such as the
positioning of the black squares, the direction of the corresponding
shapes and the color of these shapes are determined by the
computer in accordance to the rules established by the designer.
The value of this type of systems comes from their inherently
dynamic character. Typically, the design of a visual identity
consists of static imagery that is not intended to change. In this
case, the visual identity is constantly invigorated and is always
different. It is constantly re-computed and regenerated. In this
way, it is more related to its inherently digital nature (and, of
course, to the computational emphasis of the Media Lab itself).
Beowulf Typeface
Beowulf is a typeface designed by Dutch type designers Erik
van Blokland and Just van Rossum (also know as LettError). The
typeface is programmed in such a way that every time a letter
is typed, the letter is displayed differently. In other words, the
appearance of the letter is randomly generated.
“Every Beowulf character will be different each time it is printed
- for instance, every B in a row of Bs will be different. Moreover,
each time you print out that row of B’s, they will all be different to
previous printouts” (Kidd 1990: 33)
Again, we find how the computer becomes an essential part of
the design process. The computer takes decisions about what
the final outcome will be, following an established system. Here,
the use of programming is utilized to create design that is inherently
dynamic. Every string of letters printed with this typeface
is constantly re-invigorated by its random character. It is of
Figure 4. Example of the MIT Media Lab identity with several outputs generated
by its algorithm
Figure 5. One of the outputs generated by the software created for this piece
(work of the author).
Figure 6. Another output generated by the software created for this piece with a
different color, rotation angles and positioning. (work of the author).
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies 356