Communication Design

John Maeda

Merging art and computer science, John Maeda investigates the physical manifestations of digital data. Whether designing innovative digital calendars and game patterns or creating digital echoes of real world behaviors, Maeda exerts extraordinary control over his design process by creating his own computer code instead of simply manipulating programs off the shelf. More than simply marking time, his colorful digital clocks and calendars for Shiseido seem to animate more poetic qualities of time’s passage and seasonal change. Juxtaposing analog memories with the increasingly digital present, Maeda’s Tap, Type, Write matches the sound of a manual typewriter with a dance of pixilated letters across the computer screen. His animated designs come alive as scrambled pixels swirl and freeze, intriguing us with their delicacy. More recent explorations of interactive products include a Chameleon chair that changes color and a coffee table embedded with constellations of tiny lights that cluster around objects placed on its surface.