The Marginalian
The Marginalian

FORM+CODE: Eye & Brain Candy for the Digital Age

Yes, we’re on a data visualization spree this week, but today’s spotlight taps into an even more niche obsession: data viz book candy.

This season, Princeton Architectural Press, curator of the smart and visually gripping, brings us FORM+CODE — an ambitious, in-depth look at the use of software across art, design and illustration for a wide spectrum of creative disciplines, from data visualization to generative art to motion typography.

The nature of form in the digital age is trapped in the invisible realm of code. Form+Code makes that world visible to the community that stands to gain the most from it: artists and designers.” ~ John Maeda

Elegant and eloquent, compelling yet digestible, the tome — dubbed “a guide to computational aesthetics” — offers a fine piece of eye-and-brain stimulation for the age of digital creativity. It features more than 250 works spanning over 60 years of innovation in art, architecture, product design, cinema, photography, interactive media, typography, game design, artificial intelligence, graphic design, data mapping and countless other manifestations of creative culture.

From fascinating historical background to visually mesmerizing showcases to practical guides, the book talks the talk and walks the walk — its website is a digital treat in and of itself, featuring a treasure trove of extras, including code examples and a remarkable library of links to related projects.

FORM+CODE features work by some of our favorite creators and thinkers: Aaron Koblin, Jonathan Harris, Martin Wattenberg, Stefan Sagmeister, and many more across the various facets of culture, including Yoko Ono and Richard Dawkins. Yes, in the same book.

Thanks, Julia


Published October 5, 2010

https://www.themarginalian.org/2010/10/05/form-and-code/

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