Something very intriguing is happening. It’s not new, nor is it unknown, but with the new year comes a breath of fresh air as we realize where we stand and what’s available to us. And as photographers, designers, filmmakers, and/or creators in general, what we have to realize is the opportunity that’s available to us.
The opportunity to make things that change everything.
Let’s first touch on the most empowering tool at our fingertips: the Internet. The rapidly maturing web allows creatives of all types to present themselves and their work to the entire world at the click of a mouse. That’s opportunity.
But oddly: the most intriguing fact of the Internet at this point in time is not about disruption, revolution, or a shot at fortune and fame. What’s most intriguing is the ability to for anybody to get their message out exactly how one sees it in their head.
The Internet is growing to be more human. Through writing, access to typefaces, and numerous blogging platforms. Through photography, film, and access to the Canon 5D Mark III. Through the ease of connectivity with most people in the world using social media, and access for the average consumer to technologies like retina screens and open API’s.
Most art sets out to express a human quality in the work and ends there. But contemporary art can set out to express a human quality through the work, that responds and adapts to the changes made to it. View: Talk To Me, An Exhibit at the MOMA by Paola Antonelli.
Functionality is human nature. Human nature is art.
In this infant-to-teen woe stage of the Internet, we have seen the statement “content is king,” but now more than ever, we’ve seen that “context is king.” The “medium [has been] the message” but we now have the ability to interact with and add to the message.
Beyond the cat .gif’s, YouTube comments, and Craigslist, there’s actually a beautiful side to the Internet.
Human nature is slowly but surely seeping through, and those products that can be categorized as “human” produce the best results. An example of this would be design for the screen once being showered with drop shadows and tacky reflective elements on buttons, text, and boxes. According to Allan Yu in this blog post, “[3D elements have] been a huge catalyst in maturing our relationship with the web… We no longer need that analogy to make it tangible,” thus making “flat design” more ubiquitous.
Another example would be the intuitive nature of the user interfaces in Apple products, building on learned systems — the same way that we all once needed to learn how to use a mouse. The function of “swipe down to load more tweets” developed by Loren Brichter is an example of such; a seemingly diminutive choice in UI/UX but a brilliant advancement and next step in learned human patterns for iPhones and iPads.
We’re growing up.
Again: this isn’t a complete destruction of everything we ever new. It’s the widespread anthologizing and maturation of everything we’ve contributed as a society thus far. It’s looking through all of the existing platforms of delivery, and uprooting those to find a better way of expression. Artists or better yet, humans — can now look behind the curtain and alter a line in the script, add or subtract a prop, or lighting scenarios to better suit their performance. Delivery and presentation mechanisms aren’t going unnoticed.
A balance of art and the act of embracing technology is an interesting route to push everything forward from here on out. Developers know that there is beautiful code, which is built with care. Artists know that there are wonderful stories that the world can’t live without. Where humanity meets craft is story. If pieces of expression, creativity, and art have the ability to be personalized and personified on their own, why not push everything we’re making in that direction?
Letting your stories live, breathe, and interact further and farther than you physically can should be the goal. To let our stories spread like wildfire and live forever.
