Web & Motion Projects // New Information Spaces

New Information Spaces: dialogue between dynamically generated information and the environment, MGD thesis (2006)

{This page is currently under development, with images forthcoming}

Submitted in partial fulfillment for my Masters of Graphic Design Degree. Most recently, this abstract was accepted to the AIGA Schools of Thought 3 conference in Pasadena, CA as part of the panel, "Designing for Multiple Devices," moderated by David Womack.

[abstract]:
New Information Spaces is a 2006 thesis project that investigates strategies for designing effective systems that deliver dynamic information to audiences in truly ubiquitous computing environments. Current dynamic information design is largely designed for the distinct hardware that houses it, rather than the broader environs to which the information speaks. This forces a distinction between virtual and physical spaces. Graphic designers need to begin designing systems that are more seamlessly integrated. My position is that processing the information in context results in a better understanding of our environment, and a stronger affinity for it. Graphic designers need to reexamine how we address issues of pacing, data volume, and duration in time-based media. Additionally, we need to reconsider how we treat the surfaces on which the data is displayed.

This project is hypothetical and context specific, utilizing the windows of the NC State campus bus system as the information display. The bus is a contained environment and a classroom extension. Its windows afford an integration of digital information with the landscape at a scale that demonstrates the potential to create a compelling and resonant informative experience where virtual and physical environments coexist. Changes in information flows and volume, and location prompt changes in the visualization of the information.

Suguru Ishizaki’s Improvisational Design is used as a basis for the project and fuses with Mark Weiser’s model of ubiquitous computing. Improvisational Design seeks to develop a new visual language for digital media to address the dynamic changes in information content, density, and presentation in today’s technologically-proficient and -dependent society. This project shifts Ishizaki’s framework from residing within the confines of the computer monitor and is introduced directly into the environment. The project also investigates dialogue between two image planes: the window as overlay and a changing exterior scene.