This week I did a little bit of background research on generative art and the philosophy of art to try to provide some language and conceptual tools for talking about the user journey.

On the one hand, aesthetics is sometimes used as a catch all term that describes a whole bunch of questions about the philosophy of art such as: What is art? Why is it important? I think this meaning is too general to be helpful for me so I will use the slightly more narrow meaning of the term.

Although this is probably an oversimplification, I have come to the following working definitions which I find helpful:

Aesthetics: What is my subjective response to this experience?
Aesthetics focuses on the sense of taste and beauty and describes how an individual responds to an object or experience.

Poetics: What are the elements of this experience and how do they produce this response?
Poetics is more analytic and seeks to describe the elements of the object and how they relate in order to produce that effect.

Hermeneutics:  What meaning do I ascribe to this experience and my response? Why?
Hermeneutics goes beyond a subjective response to start to describe the impact on the individual of perceiving the object in terms of their sensemaking or interpretation.  

Note, I have intentionally phrased these questions from the first person perspective.  I may be interested in what responses people who experience my project may have to these questions, but I’m skeptical of my ability to satisfy that curiosity without engaging with them sufficiently that I am able to try to take their view.

A few more ideas to muddy the waters:

  • Sensing and interpreting are not easily separable processes.
  • If, as some claim, consciousness is primarily a self-referential phenomenon, then analyzing an experience is itself an experience and that moment of reflection contributes to the aesthetics of the experience.

Oh dear, I’m not sure that was helpful

I generally find questions a useful frame for thinking so here are the ones that I’m going to walk away from this digression with:

  1. What is this thing? 
  2. What is my response? 
  3. What does it mean for me? 
  4. How is that response and meaning produced from this thing? 

Some resources I found helpful:

Example UX and UI design comparison

Moving forward, I’d like to look at some examples of interactive designs related to my project and make comparisons as a way to fill out the design space that I’m working in.  As a first step towards doing this.  I start by choosing two projects from a description of them, deriving some design decisions and dimensions to consider in my project:

Project 1: The Mathenaeum at MoMath

Walkthrough:

The Mathenaeum is an interactive exhibit that allows you to procedurally design your own unique 3D polyhedron.  The exhibit is set up as an interactive mathematical sculpture studio. The exhibit consists of a large screen display and a series of interactives that can be controlled by a control pedestal located directly in front of it with a large clear trackball, a throttle,  a vertical handle that slides back and forth and an OK button.  The overall appearance is slightly steampunk with a lot of chrome, wood and glass and the pedestal is composed of basic geometric primitives.   The effect is that you are in some sense piloting a spaceship or either large vessel.

Controls:

  • Trackball- rotates solid
  • OK button – makes selection
  • Selection handle – toggles menu options
  • Throttle – applies the effect

The whole exhibit has 3 or 4 identical stations inside the Mathenaeum which is a larger temple-like structure with a lintel and columns made from dark word simple geometric shapes.

The experience consists of a series of choices starting with a basic primitive and then selecting from a bunch of transforming effects that can be applied to the geometry.  Each effect is somehow parameterized on the 3 controls on the interface and thus can be fine tuned to your satisfaction.  Throughout, the display primarily shows your evolving shape with the edges of the screen devoted to the choices you are navigating.  The background on the screen is black and the shapes being created are bright simple colors with a simple directed light applied to it.  

When you like the object you’ve created, you have the option to save and submit the shape using your ID tag.  Submitted designs are on view in a gallery where visitors can select specific polyhedra, zoom in and out, rotate and vote for the design if they like it.  At the end of the day the top designs are 3d printed and put on display in the museum.

Project 2: Euclidea

Online version: https://www.euclidea.xyz/

Euclidea is available both as a web app and a mobile app.  The description from the app store captures many of the essential features (source):

Euclidea is geometrical puzzles based on classical Euclidean constructions.

  • 156 Levels: from very easy to really hard
  • 10 Innovative Tools
  • “Explore” Mode and Hints
  • Easily Drag, Zoom & Pan

***About Euclidea***

Euclidea is a brilliantly original way to learn about, explore and have fun with Euclidean Constructions! Your task is to solve interesting challenges by building geometric constructions with a straightedge and compass. If you design the most elegantly simple solutions in the least number of moves, you’ll earn the highest scores. Solutions are scored in lines (L) and elementary Euclidean constructions (E).

***Start Simple and Get Smarter!***

Don’t worry if you aren’t a math wizard. Euclidea starts out with simple challenges that guide you through the basics. Once you master the fundamentals, you’ll move on to tougher, more mind-bending challenges such as inner/outer tangents, regular polygons, and more. There are 120 unique challenges in total, which are organized in packs for simpler navigation.

***Add Constructions to Your Interface***

When you learn certain significant constructions – such as angle bisectors, non-collapsing compass, and so on – they are automatically added to the Euclidea interface’s shortcut, which helps you save time and allows you to create clean, uncluttered drawings.

***Easily Drag, Pan & Zoom***

Euclidea-created constructions are completely dynamic. As such, you can drag to adjust angles, lines, radii and so on. You can also easily zoom and pan. This not only makes the experience more interactive, but it allows you to more deeply grasp the relationships between geometric elements, explore various possibilities, and analyze errors.

***Instant, Automatic Precision***

Don’t worry about spending time or effort trying to achieve perfect precision, because Euclidea automatically handles that task by pinning points, lines and circles to the app’s clean interface.

The overall experience is a goal-based exploration of Euclidean constructions using dynamic geometry.  Modeled after puzzle apps, you earn stars, get hints and develop more sophisticated tools as you advance.

The interface is similar to other dynamic geometry software with tools such as lines, points, circles, midpoints, perpendiculars, etc to select from.  Most of the real estate is devoted to the canvas area in which you are creating your constructions.

 

From thinking about these two designs, I’ve identified the following dimensions that I would like to apply to the set of example experiences that I’ve collected and then use to help shape my project:

  • Theme
  • Overarching goal
  • Interface
  • Visual design
  • On boarding
  • Difficulty level
  • Support/scaffolding
  • Output
  • Connection or collaboration
  • Time required and repeatability