NOLAN THOMPSON

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DECODING DESIGN

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Thesis Statement

Being a designer demands we critically, curiously, and empathetically engage with the technology that is unequivocally linked to our practice. Data-driven tools open a door to unprecedented ways to think, make, and engage with design. With no predetermined or imperative outputs, designers can embrace play and break boundaries. The act of play allows for a deeper understanding of the connection between technology and design that goes beyond technical comprehension, but actually creates space for critically engaging with the possibilities that exist in this space.

I believe all designers and people alike should have some form of code literacy, and creative-code is simply one avenue that can help integrate design with the technology that supports it. As a playful conductor of these technologies, I expand my creative freedom and return agency to the user through design processes that emphasizes conscious interactivity, increases code literacy, and utilizes transparent tool-building.

Through both building and recontextualizing digital tools utilizing creative code, I engage with technology and demystify the hidden structures of the digital landscape to promote more empathetic, transparent, and human-honoring uses of design and technology.

A large amount of my designs and image editing is done using entirely code to showcase how far creative code can take you.
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I coded an image stipulation tool with different parameters that I used throughout my book.
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Another example of this in-use: Code I wrote to easily paint with images. Done using p5.js in a local server.
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Interactive Website & Installation

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Along with my thesis book, I created an interactive website and physical installation to further engage with the themes presented in my thesis. I spent a lot of time experimenting with creative code to explore digital tool-building, interactivity, and play. I wanted to extend the experience to an immersive physical space where people can come and be curious about their own interactions with the work.

This whole concept really comes down to questioning how we engage our users as digital designers. In a design future that is so automated and profit-driven, I believe acts of radical play can create space for more empathy and forward-thinking processes in design and technology.

Code Experiments: Designing with Sine

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This experiment spoke to my obsession with tools themselves being part of the output, and demystifying the technology under the surface of design. I created image-manipulating constraints using basic sin wave functions, where the user can create unique outputs while also understanding what data is driving the parameters they set.

Code Experiments: Pixelation Tool

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As I was doing my freelance work alongside my thesis, I found myself pixelating images quite often, but I wanted more control over outputs and couldn't find a tool that fit my needs. This led me to code my own web-based tool to manually pixelate images exactly to my liking. As monopolizing software dominates design pedagogy and design thinking, code-literacy for designers can serve as a form of agency and freedom.

Final Exhibition

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Being a designer demands we critically, curiously, and empathetically engage with the technology that is unequivocally linked to our practice. Data-driven tools open a door to unprecedented ways to think, make, and engage with design. With no predetermined or imperative outputs, designers can embrace play and break boundaries. The act of play allows for a deeper understanding of the connection between technology and design that goes beyond technical comprehension, but actually creates space for critically engaging with the possibilities that exist in this space.
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