When we think about our design world today, we would all agree that digital is king. Within the digital era, it’s impossible to ignore our revolve around the internet; like the printing press changed how design is made, the internet changed how we make designs, think about designs, and how we function. Designs are no longer made to be printed, but to solely exist in pixels, we even developed a whole different color theory (RGB) that only applies to screens. When first came around it was thought to really limit design, due to the size, color limit, and use of pixels. Clement Mok was someone who recognized its power, he knew that it was going to be important for more than utility. We can thank Mok for Mac’s easy to use design, his focus was that technology should be easy and accessible. Mok understood that user experience started before you even used the software, it happens in every aspect of your interaction with the product. His work at Apple changed how we thought about computers, his designs caused a shift from scary, advanced system to the computer that was exciting, easy and welcome in everyone's home. At the center of design, technology, and business he understood the important correlation between the three and how they together were the foundation for the new economy. Mok also wanted to give power to the designers creating programs like NetObjects Fusion where designers could author web applications without knowing the code.
Today we see Mok’s influence still in Apple products and how we as designers think about the internet and design coming together. The internet poses new opportunities and challenges to designers and artist. We can share information at the speed of light, but everything seems to have already been done. Mark Napier has taken his knowledge as a painter and software developer and put them to use creating art that shows how the internet has changed how we think about design. By using his artworks we can better understand how fast paced and ever changing the internet is. His programs Riot, Shredder, The King of the Internet are examples of how the world can all interact on one platform to create. Shredder breaks down the crisp clean coded websites we know and shows us a peek behind the curtain. Riot is a self-proclaimed “melting-pot” showing the weak bonds between each site we visit, mixing them together into a new soup of code that breaks apart designers work into pieces. The King of the Internet skims all the constant postings about Donald Trump and mashes it together into a internet portrait, reflecting on how we use the internet for a constant media stream. Mark Napier work is an example of how we have come to know the internet in such a personal way in such a short amount of time, we often forget the workings behind the scene and their implications. It’s important to slow down, insert your website into Shredder and remember that the internet is a created experience for someone's gain.
My artifact is a website I helped to design and create for a company I interned. Click Here to see the process of creating the site. Then I put it through Shredder.
Napier, Mark. “Biography.” Mark Napier, 4 Jan. 2018, www.marknapier.com/biography/.
Pedersen, B. Martin. “Clement Mok.” AIGA | the Professional Association for Design, AIGA, www.aiga.org/medalist-clementmok.