Winter Workshops Digital Communication Environments 2022
The Winter Workshops of the Institute Digital Communication Environments consist of a sequence of five one-week workshops with a thematic focus on digital and time-based media. The workshops are aimed at professionals in the field of communication / marketing / design and art, as well as students in these fields of practice. They offer the opportunity for efficient further training in specific areas of competence.
Videodocumentation, digital animation, creative coding, artificial intelligence, and game design are digital formats that have changed and will continue to change the practice of communication and its design. The Institute Digital Communication Environments has been exploring digital design tools and the digital channels of communication since the mid-1980s. The implications of technological developments and their impact on communication, design, and art have been at the center of its exploration. The experimental diversion of technological achievements is considered as much an outcome of the debate as the development of sustainable models of their application.
Workshops January 17 – February 18, 2022:
As graphic designers embraced the computer decades ago, the mouse became an extension of their hand and a tool to enable creativity in the digital domain. Since the mid 1990s, frameworks have made programming accessible for artists and designers to express themselves, a method commonly referred to as Creative Coding. Dynamic inputs such as chance, data and time, can be harnessed to modify elements of a layout, generate forms, and explore changes across every letter, word, paragraph and page of a book. With a few lines of code, one can quickly go beyond the possibilities of a mouse and embrace generative design. In this workshop we’ll explore basil.js, an open source library, which extends InDesign for creative coding in the spirit of Processing. Released by HGK FHNW Institute for Visual Communication/The Basel School of Design in 2013, basil.js empowers designers to create generative typography and data driven layouts among many other features. No coding experience is required. This workshop is aimed at introducing visual communication practitioners to a new way in which to use their existing tools.
Ted Davis, 1983, is an American media artist / designer / educator based in Basel, Switzerland, where he teaches interaction design and coordinates the UIC/HGK International Master of Design program within the Institute Digital Communication Environments IDCE. His work and teachings explore the volatility of digital media through glitch and reactivating older ‘new media’ through newer programming means. His open source projects (basil.js, XYscope, P5LIVE) enable designers to program within Adobe InDesign, render vector graphics on vector displays, and collaboratively create live coded visuals. With international exhibits, lectures and workshops, he empowers students to take hold of the computer’s ability to design possibilities beyond that of the hand or mouse. teddavis.org
The term moving graphics encompasses all animated graphics designed with the dimension of time, which are mostly shown on a display or as a projection. We find moving graphics as animated screen icons, web banners, animation to explain a fact or as animated posters in public space. The Moving Graphics course teaches the technical and design possibilities of moving graphics. What does it mean when graphics are set in motion? What statements does this open up? The course participants develop a concept for their own moving poster and then implement it. Experiments should be gained by experimenting with the moving image in the design process. The Cinema 4D and After Effects programs are taught and used as tools.
Dirk Koy graduated in 2002 from the University of Art and Design Basel (HGK Basel) in the field of visual communication. From 2003 to 2005 he worked for the KMS team in Munich and was involved in the development of the cross-media corporate design for Porsche Design, which was awarded the “ADC Germany” and the “red dot communication award”. In 2007 he co-founded “Equipo“ an office for visual communication. Over the past few years, Dirk Koy's interest has focused on the area of moving images. He designed animated title graphics and biographies for the SRF1 TV show ”Focus Blind Date”. The work received bronze at the Bassawards in 2016. He realized some animated music visualizations such as "Escape Route" for the music legend Boris Blank (Yello) or "The City" for the band "Five Years Older", which were shown at numerous festivals worldwide. In 2012 “The City” received the “Honorary Mention” award from the “Prix Ars Electronica” and in 2015 won the 1st prize of the Visual Music Award. Since 2011 Dirk Koy has worked as a lecturer for time-based media at the Institute Digital Communication Environments at HGK FHNW in Basel. In 2016, he founded the studio for motion design and experimental film “Dirk Koy Bild und Bewegung”. His work has been shown at the Art Center Nabi in Seoul, at the House of Electronic Arts in Basel and at the Supernova Festival in Denver. In 2019 Dirk Koy received the Basel Media Art Prize for the 3D animation “ground“.
The industry today offers a wide range of technical options from cameras, lenses and microphones to movement options with drones and gimbals. The boundaries between professional devices and recording options such as smart phones are becoming increasingly blurred. Despite the democratization of technical means, design issues that lead to successful video documentation or narration are of central importance. This is where this workshop comes in: Designers learn to deal with the variety of technical possibilities. You learn the technical basics and practice how a project is designed, implemented and implemented until publication. The experience for cadrage, logical image sequence (narration), rhythm and visual aesthetics is strengthened. You can use the professional equipment of the Institute Digital Communication Environments IDCE, or you can use your own tools. Even your smartphone, if used skillfully, can become a professional documentation tool. Our Mac infrastructure with the complete Adobe Creative Cloud software range is available to you for the final processing, from editing and setting to coding for publication.
Fabian Kempter, *1959. As the son of a photographer, he came into contact with making pictures early on. The training as a drawing teacher sparked his interest in moving images. Through further training in animation film workshops in Switzerland and at CalArts in California, he has specialized in video documentation and narration. Fabian Kempter teaches at the HGK FHNW in Basel and previously at the previous institution (SfG Basel) in the field of moving images. In 1996, together with a business partner, he founded a studio for video and film productions, in which he continues to work on orders for customers. Fabian Kempter began dealing with the moving image in the 1980s using the analogue means of production that were common at the time. He experienced the change to the current design tools of digital video step by step.
Within the last decades, computer games have established themselves as a new medium with increasing cultural influence. In this context, interaction allows for a new approach to digital 3D imagery. As a player, one does not only react to the images but influences the immersive space through one's own behavior. Game design software tools enable designers to create unexpected digital 3D visualizations. Game engines such as Unity can be used for creating engaging experiences with relatively few lines of code. In the Game Design workshop, we will use Unity to design a virtual world in which the player can walk through and interact with objects. Participants will get an insight into creating a 3D project in Unity and learn how to use 3D models, shaders, lighting, and how to program simple interactions with the C# programming language.
Lena Frei works as a research assistant at the Institute Digital Communication Environments IDCE. Her research interests are centered around the interplay between humans and technology, with a special focus on game design. Her fascination with computer games – both as a gamer and as a researcher and designer – has been the starting point for various projects, be it in academia, design, or interactive narration. Lena Frei graduated from the University of Basel in 2016 with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Media Studies. Before completing her MA in Visual Communication and Iconic Research at the HGK FHNW, she worked as a concept developer and multimedia designer. For her master's thesis, she designed a computer game that encouraged a critical look at the division between nature and culture.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence research have unleashed a torrent of almost psychedelic imagery in both computer science and the arts. The workshop will introduce into the basics of this “neural aesthetic” (Gene Kogan) using convolutional neural networks and will probe the creative potentials of the technology through hands-on experimentations. The aim is to discuss and reflect the consequences of these technologies for design and art in particular, as well as for our societies in general. What are the characteristics of this emerging ‘neural aesthetic’ and what would be meaningful roles for it within our visual cultures? The participants will gain a foundational understanding of convolutional neural networks and will be enabled to conduct practical experiments with these. The course will give an introduction in working with models using Google Colab, Runway ML and ArtBreeder. The gained knowledge will be used for visual experimentation, allowing the participants to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence and deep learning based on an informed understanding. The course is aimed at designers and artists. Programming skills are not required. Additional costs for cloud computing might occur.
Ludwig Zeller, 1981, is a lecturer and design researcher at the Institute Digital Communication Environments IDCE. In his work he explores the connections between technology and society through a variety of design and scientific methods, blurring supposedly clear disciplinary boundaries. As a lecturer, he encourages his students to explore the poetic dimensions of our contemporary data culture through audio-visual translations between the physical and mediated. Ludwig Zeller is a graduate of the Royal College of Art London and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. His work has been shown at V2_ Rotterdam, FILE Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, MU Eindhoven, Arnolfini Bristol, technarte Bilbao and SIGCHI Boston, among others, and has been presented by the magazines FORM, PAGE, De:Bug, Fast.Co Design, wemakemoneynotart, Beyond the Beyond and the Creative Applications Network. www.ludwigzeller.net
Creative Coding
Moving Graphics
Videodocumentation and Narration
Game Design
The Neural Aesthetic of Deep Learning
Institute Digital Communication Environments
Visual communication is a tool of knowledge generation in its own right. Visualizations make things perceptible, imaginable and graspable.
