An experiment in proceduralism.

This project is an early step in an ongoing research process.

Inspired by Brian Eno’s ‘Composers as Gardeners’, this is an exercise in autonomous design systems. It looks to create a set of design principles that can be modulated to create endless variation. 

I’m fascinated by the idea of using new software techniques and automation to inform more ‘traditional’ graphic design outcomes. 

I wanted to take many of the fundamental principles I use to create visual identities, but supplement and replace aspects of the design process with software automation. This process still requires human input to set the initial visual system, but once these are created the machine takes over the modulation and iteration process to generate endless variables and results. Chaos and control, but tightly integrated.

This systematic approach is by no means a new idea; Karl Gerstner outlined much of these foundational principles in ‘Designing Programmes’ in 1964. The difference now is that the techniques by which these processes can be automated is getting much simpler for the average designer to utilize.

Marking the end of 2020, I wanted to visualise this research/theory with a response that somehow characterised the year.