I love this app from Stefanie Posavec and Dare Digital. She is to be featured in Visualisation Magazine Vol 4 Handmade with her equally beautiful Literary Organisms work.
These projects are great as they examine the accessibility of information and try to make complex narratives of words easier to read by opening up the multi-linear reading of data, see blu-comic or typographic nuance. Giving it a new pattern which is just as brilliant achieved in this app, what apps i think should be made for: easier to access information, but also she & dare digital bring with it beauty in form too.
From Stefanie's site:
'MyFry is the iPhone app edition of The Fry Chronicles, Stephen Fry's latest autobiography.
This project was initiated by Jeremy Ettinghausen at Penguin. I designed the 'visual index' graphics, and Dare Digital made it interactive and created everything else (ie the most important parts).
This iPhone app functions as a 'visual index' of key theme tags within the book, all of which have been divided into 4 major groups: People, Subjects, Emotions, and 'Fryisms'.
The entirety of the book is represented by a circular wheel of 'spines', each of which represents a section of text. The arcs around the outside of the wheel connect sections that are tagged with the same theme.
Through interacting with the scroll wheel, the user can explore the text and read sections in chronological order, by theme, or in any order he or she chooses. As Stephen Fry's autobiography was written in a style that was suited to splitting the text into separate moments in Fry's life, the visual index offers the reader a different way of engaging with this book.' itsbeenreal.co.uk/index.php?/new/myfry-iphone-app/
Really would love websites to take on this persona, of multi linear reading, interactive, where information is represented as a node, see concept
map.
MyFry in the iTunes store
Video: Stephen Fry explaining how the app works
Stephen Fry's website Dare Digital
Published on 2010/10/02 3:43 pm.
Filed under: architecture, circular, concept map, connections, Interactive Mapping, multidirectional, non linear, wheel, words, writing Tags: Autobiography, Dare (agency), Handhelds, Iphone, ITunes Store, Smartphones, Stephen Fry, Website
I think this was a good discussion talking about language and communicating without phonetics touching on quite a few forms of language and creativity. This
was my thoughts below to this question.
Is it possible real ideographic way of communicate ideas? that is think, communicate and learn without phonetic chains? New era challenge require a more rapid and easy way of thinking.
My thoughts, love the discussion:
http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1782421&type=member&item=10926482
Susan Kare designed the trash can, apologies not checking who, someone mentioned basing language on gesture and I like the term grant put iconic physiology I
think it was, still needs to be learned like phonetics. but she made the smiling face on load up of the Mac in 84'
W
hen I was reading, I came across that language needed to search for the strongest metaphor (object) to relate meaning like an ideogram (pg 28-29 in my writings link below). But someone said they try to unlearn what they know and think of objects without words, I try it too. led me into representing objects through shapes, silhouettes. I also liked the story that a guy shuts his eyes, similar to Claude Heath and tries to draw the world, like Betty Edwards I think it was, drawing on the left side. altering our perception, being creative, looking at line drawings upside down for the first time you see it challenges you to work out what it is, you just copy it. not sure how the advance to not using phonetics. unlearning advances the creativity and ultimately the imagining of new ways I guess.
L
ogos do it, icons for blogger, wordpress (ok still letters), delicious, squidoo, digg (the people) these are universal, they're most widely seen (internet).
B
rands do it, coca cola (letters I know).
I'm sure its got to involve more senses other than sight to be more widely applicable without phonetics. brail and tactility, still represent a letter in the alphabet though I think. But I like that the grid comes into it, all characters equal in size, maybe not area but equal height and relative width.
Similar
to time dimension brought into sound with Morse
code again representing letters. they look good graphically, cant remember the artist-designer
S
till, a group of people would need to agree to discerned representations, otherwise how can they communicate complex thought like we're doing here?
http://www.visualisationmagazine.com/dissertation.htm
pg 28-29 about.
Please share you thoughts, links.
Published on 2010/09/11 10:40 pm.
Filed under: coding, communication, language, learn, writing Tags: Amateur, Amp, Apologies, Cdata, Creativity, Eath, Follower, Followers, Gesture, language, Line Drawings, Linguistics, Metaphor, Morse code, New Era, New Ways, perception, Phonetics, Physiology, Radio, Recreation, Shapes, Silhouettes, Smiling Face, Social Sciences, Type Member, Visual Communication
instantiating
computation : tom white
exploring visual representations of different models of computation that
lend themselves to direct manipulation in order to better understand and
construct information spaces
codefocus
: jared schiffman
reeavaluating the process of writing programs and the visual environment
in which this activity takes place. to make writing and reading code
more inuitive through an enhanced visual infrastructure
anemone
(live version) : ben fry
using the process of organic information design to visualize the
changing structure of a web site, juxtaposed with usage information
genomic
cartography : ben fry
a series of experiments combining visualization and genomics.
expressing qualitative features of the human genome through advanced
visual representations.
These are some of the projects that I will certainly try to have a deeper
reader about from the aesthetics and computation group featuring john maeda and
ben fry. I was aware of the project below as most people are,
processing :
ben fry and casey reas
processing is an environment for learning the fundamentals of computer
programming within the context of the electronic arts. it is an electronic
sketchbook for developing ideas. processing is an open project initiated
by ben fry and casey reas, of the interaction design institute ivrea.A very good group that i will certainly follow to keep
up-to-date as they try to explore language, mapping (space), communication.
Truly creative projects that I must have a good read, may just have to blog
individually upon further inspection. I found this group through http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/serialconsign/~3/PKLFOJPUrDM/information-visualization-and-interface-culture with a review of a chapter written by greg smith for Handbook of Research on Computational Arts and Creative Informatics which will be released
sometime in the next several weeks.
Published on 2009/04/25 9:17 pm.
Filed under: cartography, coding, communication, creative, data, design, education, interpret, language, pattern, visual thinking, visualisation, writing
This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.
These are very nice books visalised into a typographic territory through cutouts by Peter Cookridge & James Birdle (directed by asylum's ben falk & jos newbolt.
It is a stop motion film and features an entire city made out of books and covers from publishing house, 4th estate's titles.
they visualise scenes that cookreidge describes as 'in jokes' such as a man falling off a boat which is the scene from title book 'The Corrections'.
The production design is by Pippa Culpepper who crafts these beautiful artefacts.
from January 09 Creative review p10.
Also very similiar but all from one book,
Published on 2009/01/22 12:13 pm.
Filed under: abstract, concrete, cover, creative, literature, looking, mallarme, narrative, visual thinking, visualisation, words, wordsworth, writing
Where did your spoken langauge descend from? Well english came from the germanic group dark blue. A great visualisation of the origins of european languages.
The proto Indo European language is placed at the centre (4000 BCE) and present day Indo European languages on the outside edge of the circle(2000 CE).
The inner space is also divided into rings representing different millennia, where the most significant ancestral languages from which contemporary Indo European languages are descended are placed. Proto Indo European divided into various groups, which then subdividedand evolved independently, giving rise to today's different Indo European languages. That is why the circle is divided into different sections, each of a different colour. Each section corresponds to one of the subdivisions of the family of Indo European languages. Thus, the:
dark blue section represents the Germanic group;
green, the Celtic one;
yellow, the Romance languages;
pink, the Greek group;
brown, the Balkan group;
orange, the Anatoliangroup;
red, the IndoIraniangroup;
purple, the Tocharian group;
sky blue,the Slavic group; and
turquoise, the Baltic group.
found here: http://medialab-prado.es/article/investigacion_para_la_visualizacion_experimental_interactiva_de_conocimientos_etimologicos
Published on 2008/10/16 7:13 pm.
Filed under: colour, geographic, language, mapping, meaning, multidirectional, visualisation, writing
The new Nokia 6220 advertisement promoting its mapping technology available on it with, a giant collaborative map. Contrasting close ups of people of varying ages with close ups of pencils/pens even a wonderfully kept one of the pencil nib breaking it creates an excellant mix of creativity, enjoyment and concentration.
No surprise of its brilliance from Wieden & Kennedy, they just do it, sorry about the pun.
Credits:
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, London
Agency Producer: Lucy Russell
Creative Director: Matt Gooden, Ben Walker
Art Director: Dan Norris
Copywriter: Ray Shaughnessy
Production Company: Partizan, London
Director: Antoine Bardou Jacquet
Producer: David Stewart
DOP: Damien Morisot
Art Director: Chris Oddy
Editor: Bill Smedley, Work, London
Post Production: The Mill, London
Telecine Operator: Paul Harrison
On-line Operator: Barnsley
Music Composer: Wave, London
More at: http://advertisingpawn.com
featured here: http://visualthinkmap.ning.com/video/video/show?id=2168552%3AVideo%3A788
Published on 2008/08/03 2:42 pm.
Filed under: advert, cell, collaborative, creative, doodle, drawing, gadget, graphic, illustration, map, maps, nokia, pastel, phone, sketch, tv, visual maps, visualisation, wieden kennedy, writing
Wonderful little map of relating authors to their similarities, genre. It is similar to music plasma map by Frederic Vavrille previously posted with how it connects musical artists together and actors likewise in a real time animated arrangment steming from the centre of who you searched.
I like tom sharpe and it is no surprise that terry pratchett, p g woodhouse & fear and loathing by hunter s thompson feature in my map.
The graphics/visual leave little to be desired, a bleak blue could have been contrasted with sharp black for the white lettering and maybe a more elegant but still easy to read french script font with a touch of embellishing with it or somewhere in the map display, edges/border. Could heed some advice from observing the subtle style of music plasma.
Anyhow it is a great website tool by marek gibney, literature-map.com produces these great text visual maps of different authors that you might be intersted in to enjoy as I can possibly more comedic pleasure through similarities to one you input.
The literature-map is a part of gnooks, gnooks is apart of gnod, gnod is a project of marek gibney
Similar to music map http://visualthinkmap.ning.com/photo/photo/show?id=2168552%3APhoto%3A67&context=album&albumId=2168552%3AAlbum%3A165
Brilliant, give it a go
Found here: http://actpubliclibrary.blogspot.com/2008/07/literature-map-exploration.html
Published on 2008/07/31 7:40 pm.
Filed under: architecture, composition, data, dynamic, innovative, language, links, literature, multiple, narrative, non linear, spatial, text, typographic, visual maps, visualisation, writing
This visual map explores the relationships/characteristics of the many different typographers/fonts, artistic movements from 1950 - 2008 charting each decade. This is the second half of the type timeline. First half here: http://visualthinkmap.blogspot.com/2008/05/type-timeline-map.html
It was inspired from Stefan Thermerson 'Kurt Schwitters on a time Chart' featured in the brilliant Typographica NS no. 14, December, 1966 edited by Herbert Spencer (Typographica by Rick Poynor 2001).
Published on 2008/07/15 3:11 pm.
Filed under: architecture, art, composition, creative, designs, diagram, function, graphic, links, playful, poetry, time, typographic, visual thinking, visualisation, white space, writing
'linking notes' i think curzon (teaching) calls them.
i needed to see my whole ideas in one view, to help me connect my ideas literally accross the visual scene.
as much as this helped it was not surprisingly becoming too large, i'd have to go on a walk to see the other end (only joking). i started with the grey a4 photocopy of a previous brainstorm of communication then reflecting on it after some time i expanded it with thoughts at that time, arrangement of poetry, time, painting or speech (syntax).
Finally settled on using a notebook, as i could 'flick' back pages to reasses my research.
still it was a nice visual.
Published on 2008/04/28 4:05 pm.
Filed under: composition, creative, framing, multidirectional, non linear, notebook, visual thinking, visualisation, words, writing
Not all visual maps involve these beautiful, elaboratly designed concept maps, mindmaps, spider diagrams with time & knowledge of coding/art to create.
The notebook is easily portable with the only need being a pen without the need for your other research files/books to hand. It allows your thoughts to be readily reflected upon and more chance of the critical point of engagement utilised.
Many great thinkers utilised notebooks such as I.K. Brunel featured on you tube at my blog, Paula Scher (pentagram partner) likewise blog, also Leonardo Da Vinci who worked between Science & Art, fig,
‘Page after page of Leonardo’s manuscripts has a gentle but thorough integration of text and figure […] the use of words and pictures together requires a special sensitivity to the purpose of design. [W]hether the graphic is primarily for communication and illustration of a settled finding or, in contrast, for the exploration of a data set.’ (Tufte, 2001, p.182).
I have created a notebook that use’s drawing and writing to combine ideas and readings across varying sectors of design. I use drawing as a research tool as well as writing; fig. This special sensitivity to design are some of the design issues surrounding form and function, and contrasts of light/dark, thick/thin (salience), framing, use of white space, or colour harmony.
'words on and around graphics are highly effective-sometimes all too effective-in telling viewers how to allocate their attention to the various parts of the data display’ (Tufte, 2001, p.182).
Mind maps, brainstorms and notebooks are visual research (visual maps). In the book Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design (Advanced Level), ‘it is possible to critique action so as to produce more enlightened or more effective forms of action. The critical thinking in this tradition is a practice in the world, a praxis’ (Noble & Beastley, 2005, p 9).
Critical thinking is what is trying to be achieved through notebooks, visual maps. Praxis is if we look at Aristotle states, ‘practice is the application of that knowledge to solve problems’, this is what design is problem solving.
Visual diaries & notebooks are a form of ‘action research – where a diary tells, in a step-by-step way, of a practical experiment in the studio’. This is ‘research through art and design’, ‘where the end product is an artefact – where the thinking is, so to speak, embodied in the artefact’ (Frayling, 1993/4, p.5).
mini bibliography
Tufte, E R. (2001). Envisioning Information. Graphics Press LLC , Connecticut
Noble, Ian & Bestley, Russell. (2005). Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methodologies in Graphic Design (Advanced Level). SA, AVA Publishing
Frayling, C. (1993/4). Research in Art & Design. Royal College, Vol 1, No 1. London.
Da vinci figure from : Pederetti, Carlo. (2006). Leonardo Da Vinci. UK, Tajbook
Published on 2008/04/07 8:42 pm.
Filed under: art, artefacts, critical, da vinci, diaries, drawing, figure, notebook, pictures, praxis, research, science, sublime, text, thoughts, tufte, visual thinking, words, writing
