Inspirational stuff
Sites
singlecell.org - check out its designer, James Tindall, a graduate of UWCN (interactive art)
yugop - what is this guy on? - go to surface yugop and check out his clock for starters
meywa denki - where does the industrial design end and the lunacy begin? - they're on something for sure
Caspar Sawyar - former UWCN student, creator with Onno Baudouin of Vertex Cloud
itch - an interface to die for and quirky product design, one of our favourites - oh bother its gone!
noodlebox by Daniel Brown swing by his newest addition the bits and pieces section and be gobsmacked
praystation - Joshua Davis when it comes to Flash you are out there!
once upon a forest - the best contemplative site around and we don't understand it either!
turtleshell - another contemplative site to visit and chillout to
oncotype all round smart Copenhagen guys - amazing interfaces and wonderful short, and not so short, interactive films
Robotduck - And its always nice to see what Mr. Pitt's up to! Another UWCN graduate
Nick Crowe - is currently one of the UK's foremost artists experimenting with the internet - check out 'discrete packets.' We filmed his presentation at net congestion and an interview offstage - one day we'll stream it!
fjallfil - innovative use of shockwave - come on girl work that udder!
lume - a gallery at University of Art and Design Helsinki - worth checking out for cutting edge stuff - clicking the 'english' language button just might be a good idea
The Museum of the Future - home of the Ars Electronica permanent collection in Linz Austria, the website is the next best thing to visiting in the flesh - check out the cybernetic garden, we have footage of it in action to put up from a visit to this year's festival
Books
We appreciate that funds are invariable tight so we strongly recommend that where ever possible look at these books in your college library first before buying any of them. Many need to be read just once but some of these books we consider to be must reads and must keeps and they are marked with an asterisk* but don't take our word for it check them out first before buying and then blaming and flaming.
We've linked all
of the titles below to the relevant page on amazon, where possible
You might find it useful to have a look at the other titles recommended by people
who've already bought the book.
We'll try and categorise these recommended books but you may not agree with us - tough!
General Theory
Toothpicks and Logos: Design in Everyday Life - John Heskett first rate book on the subject of design itself on a philsophical nature rather than a 'how to do it' book, a favourite
John Berger - Ways of Seeing* why don't you own this book?
Jim Powell - Postmodernism for Beginners want the crash course in postmodernism?
Jon Dovey (Editor)- Fractal Dreams Commisioned essays by the likes of Beryl Graham, Sean Cubitt, Fred Johnson and others
Nigell Fabb - How to Write Essays, Dissertations and Theses in Literary Studies Need a book to help you write your essays and dissertations - then read the first chapter of this book or better still buy it and read the lot. Most university libraries worth their salt hold reference copies of this.
David Hopkins - After Modern Art 1945-2000 - An excellent guide to art since the second world war for those heavy essays that we all write at one time or another
Chris Horrocks -Introducing Foucault - a good place to start before tackling the philosopher's work itself
W. Terrence Gordon - Saussure for Beginners- gets to grips with Structuralism without too much brainstrain
Art What is it Good for? - the Institute of Ideas - the essay 'Art: What's it all about?' on art criticism has to be read, informative and very funny
Halls Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art - vital for any serious students of art history
Julian Stallabrass - High Art Lite - Brit Art and the Emperor's New Clothes......
But Is It Art?: An Introduction to Art Theory - Cynthia Freeland - first rate and an easy read
Roland Barthes - Camera Lucida
Roland Barthes - Image Music Text
John Fiske - Introduction to Communication Studies
Interactive Design
John Maeda - maeda @ media possibly one of the best examples of the meeting of maths and art
Jeffrey Veen - Hot Wired Style: Principles for building smart web sites the examples are mostly old hat - worth reading but not a priority to buy, check out his new, expensive, book
Darcy DiNucci - Elements of Web Design best book we know on the subject but expensive - borrow it a lot from your college library
Neal Stephenson - in the beginning was the command line... fun read about lots of geek stuff, notably graphical user interfaces. Page 4 to page 8 are the most entertaining you will read anywhere on Operating Systems - if you get thrown of of the library for laughing don't blame us!
John Seely Brown - The Secret Life of Information a must read for information designers
Alan Cooper - The Inmates are Running the Asylum excellent book by a legend in the field of usability and interaction design
Lovejoy - Postmodern Currents - a must for interactive artists
Christa
Sommerer (Editor), Laurent Mignonneau (Editor) Art@Science a collection
of articles by some eminent artists and scientists
Gary Rosenzweig Special Edition Using Director 8* if you want
use director get this - may be an MX version by now
Peter Small - Lingo Sorcery not updated recently but still a crucial read for lingo programmers - new edition please!!!!
Bob Hughes - Dust or Magic want to understand the process of designing multimedia? -the author is a lecturer at UWE in Bristol
Steven Johnson - Interface Culture* we dare you not to buy this
Mark Pesce - The Playful World* follow up all the useful links in this book - interesting stuff on furbies, lego mindstorms and art electronica
Colin Moock - ActionScript: The Definitive Guide - the title says it all, if you work with Flash this should be next to your computer
Steven Poole - Trigger Happy - the evolution of computer games
Cyberculture
Ian Angell - The New Barbarian Manifesto want to know where new technology and globalisation might take us - the high tech rollercoaster ride to hell - read it, read it, read it
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media - heavy going but has to be read
Sherry Turkle - Life on the Screen - one of those books that keeps being referenced
We could recommend books here by Kevin Warwick but we won't a
Glass and Architecture
Jera May North - Glass - inspirational little book
Immaterial | Ultramaterial - Innovative products and innovative ideas in industrial design and architecture, an eye opener. Features an excellent interview with Shigeru Ban, an architectural superstar in the making
Keith Cummings - Techniques of Kiln-formed Glass - says it all
Glass in Architecture - Michael Wiggington - a great but expensive reference on the subject
Philip Wilkinson - The Shock of the Old - great chapter on the genesis of the great cathedrals
Charles Bray - Dictionary of Glass
Günter Binding - High Gothic, the Age of the Great Cathedrals - authoratative guide
Books on designers
Stefan Sagmeister - Made You Look - cool graphic design
Marc Newson - Marc Newson if you're a product designer you should know this guy's work
Karim Rashid - I want to change the world and this guy too!
Vaughan Oliver - An Exhibition CD cover designer extraordinaire
Matthew Kargas - Somna Vakina - work by Bertill Vallien - Glass genius or out of his tree? discuss
Diller and Scofidio - Scanning - Interactive Art or Architecture who knows?!
Tadao Ando - Church on the Water, Church of the Light - Two fine buildings by the master
Ross Lovegrove - Supernatural - Wales' finest
Any good english
language books on Kaj Franck or Timo Sarpaneva - let us know
Want to chill after reading all these books? just go and watch "Pi" or "Delicatessen" or "the City of Lost Children" or "Les Visiteurs" (okay so we like French films!) or read Bo Fowler - 'Scepticism Inc' or 'The Astrological Diary of God' or Stanislaw Lem's Futurological Congress - don't let it be all work, you might end up like us!
if you want even more extensive lists on any of the topcs above, or books and films to chill out with just email us!