Cover of Maeda@Media

Maeda@Media

"John Maeda deconstructs the digital world with the earned authority of an M.I.T.-trained computer scientist and a card-carrying artist. Being ambidextrous with Eastern and Western cultures, he can see things most of us overlook. The result is a humor and expression that brings out the best in computers and art."—Nicholas Negroponte

Read more

John Maeda is one of the world's leading experimental graphic designers and is quickly becoming a digital culture icon. His early preoccupation with the intersection of computer programming and digital art has resulted in a fascinating, interactive, and stunningly beautiful collection of work. Maeda has pioneered many of the key expressive elements that are prevalent on the web today. Among his most well-known works are "The Reactive Square," which features a simple black square on a computer screen that changes shape if one yells at it, and "Time Paint," in which paint flies across the screen. He has created innovative, interactive calendars, digital services, and advertisements for companies such as Sony, Shiseido, and Absolut Vodka.

This is the first publication to present a complete overview of Maeda's work and philosophy. A glorious visual exploration of ideas and graphic form, "Maeda @ Media" takes you through Maeda's beginnings in early computerized printouts, to his reactive graphics on CD-ROM, to his dynamic experiments on the web, to his pedagogical approach to digital visual art, and finally to his overarching quest to understand the very nature of the relationship between technology and creativity. Six thematic chapters provide an overview of his entire career and research. But this is not just a catalog of older work: interspersedbetween each chapter is a new visual essay that has been created exclusively for this publication to underline each of the major themes.

Coming together in a massive 480 pages, printed in a dazzling array of color combinations on three different kinds of paper, the result is a manifesto, a finely crafted manual and inspiration sourcebook all in one.

With over 1000 illustrations.

Themes
arttechnology
Audience
adult
Length
long · 464 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Maeda@Media? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Maeda@Media. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Processing: A Programming Handbook for Visual Designers and Artists Shares design, art, nonfiction
  2. Color Harmony Compendium Shares design, art, graphic design
  3. The Art of Looking Sideways Shares design, art, graphic design
  4. Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers Shares design, technology, nonfiction

“People who read Maeda@Media tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Information Anxiety 2
  2. The End of Print: The Graphic Design of David Carson
  3. Your Private Sky: R. Buckminster Fuller - The Art of Design Science
  4. Design Like Apple: Seven Principles for Creating Insanely Great Products, Services, and Experiences

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. Digital Lighting & Rendering
  2. Photoshop Masking & Compositing
  3. Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right
  4. Adobe Photoshop Cs3 for Photographers: A Professional Image Editor's Guide to the Creative Use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

“If it was the design that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Design as Art
  2. How To See
  3. Never Use White Type on a Black Background: And 50 Other Ridiculous Design Rules
  4. Scandinavian Design

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Creative Code: Aesthetics + Computation
  2. Themes of Contemporary Art: Visual Art After 1980
  3. Book Was There: Reading in Electronic Times
  4. Exploring Art