Yogu Nakamura
View my presentation, or play with it below:
My survey
"Since Flash appeared on the scene the rules as to what a Web page should be no longer apply." - Yogu Nakamura
Yugo Nakamura (b1970) is considered one of the pioneers in interactive systems in digital/networked environments, and one of the most interesting/unique interface designers. His background was in civil engineering, which led to a natural interest in the relationship between a user and his/her environment/surroundings. He is not only an engineer, but a designer, director and a coder.
His work is all about creating a new communication environment and getting an emotional response from the user. Yogu is trying to redefine the relationship between users and their interaction with the web environment; to create a “unique communicaton experience”. To acheive this, he has to sacrifice usability for aesthetics. Many of his visitors consider his work very "user unfriendly."
there's usability... but there's also joy ... there's that simple fun of being able to touch and feel, that can draw you deeper into a web experience. (Nakamura)
Consequently, his aim is to design the nature of the users' relationship with their environment.
Yogu has been strongly influenced by John Maeda, because Maeda introduced him to a new paradigm; the computer is no longer just a tool, but a "creative catalyst".
...I think I did learn what it might mean to express something
from within the computer's own environment.
that was the basic paradigm I learned from john maeda-san. (Nakamura)
He is interested in the craftsmanship of design and production and believes it is not related to technology but to the spirit. His work is organic and has a feeling of fluidity in the design; his work is mostly done in Flash. Some of his work has been in claymation. His most clever work, in my opion, is the Ecotonoha site. Users from all over the world collaborate together to build a tree. Each user can add leaf nodes to the tree with their name and a message. As the virtual tree grows, NEC will plant a new tree for every leaf created.
“I am developing an alternative approach to visual communication on the web.” - Yogu Nakamura
Samples of Work:
http://www.intentionallies.co.jp/content_normal.html
http://www.shift.jp.org/093/
https://www.ecotonoha.com/index_en.html
Personal site: http://www.shift.jp.org/093/
References:
http://www.designmuseum.org/design/yugo-nakamura
http://www.shift.jp.org/093/yugonakamura/
http://www.designboom.com/portrait/flash.html