Joshua Davis has been labeled a web design “rock star”. It is no doubt due in part to the many tattoos that adorn his body. But he has also earned this label—one the he dismisses—due to his revolutionary design.
Davis was one of the first web designers to regularly incorporate the use of Macromedia—now Adobe—Flash into his work. He has written a book on the subject, Flash to the Core, and was featured in the book New Masters of Flash because of his expertise.
But Davis’ talent goes far beyond basic web design, bringing in his skills as an illustrator and graphic artist into the sites he creates, as well as other venues. Davis uses the Chaos Theory in creating his art, developing intricate “works of ‘dynamic abstraction.’” He uses new technology and programs he writes to do the dirty work for him—creating completely randomized pieces composed of sometimes more than 100,000 images.
Davis began using computer programs to create works of art in the mid-‘90s. “I used a program called FutureSplash Animator,” Davis says, “Which became the first version of Flash.”
As future versions of Flash were developed, Davis realized the program was right up his alley. Originally strictly an animation tool, as Flash added a scripting language, Davis realized its full potential. “Suddenly I had this combination of vector-based design tool and programming environment,” he says.
Citing Jackson Pollack, the famed abstract expressionist of the ‘40s and ‘50s, as an inspiration, Davis generates art for use in his designs by writing codes based on “natural, semi-random processes” including the movement of insects, the wind, and running water. His codes unsystematically distribute and warp his chosen images to create a final work that is both incredibly complex and unique.
Because of the complexity of these pieces, and the thousands of layers often involved, Davis ends up creating work that can’t be printed without being rasterized. On screen, and in the cyber realm, it is another story. “Flash likes the web,” Davis says, “So I can put it right up on my website.”
Davis’ design process is one that appears similar to that of many others—including students in a new media class—upon first glance. In a research or collecting phase, Davis compiles objects and data around him, and things that he comes across that might help shape the final product. From there, David draws the original artwork elements that will go into his piece—a process that can take several days. He then writes the program needed to generate the final art, creating unique coding for each piece. When the program is complete, it is refined by Davis; code is altered and variables are tweaked to achieve a desirable final outcome. Finally, Davis enters the generating stage—perhaps the quickest stage of the entire process—where he runs the program he created to generate totally unique artwork, often in mere minutes.
Davis has displayed his work on several sites of his own creation, including Praystation.com and the now defunct Dreamless.org, which also served as a forum for graphic and web designers.
As mentioned, Joshua Davis has managed to distinguish himself from other designers with his use of Flash. However it is clear that it is not merely his use of this program in his design work, but the way he used it, that has truly set him apart.
Examples of Davis' randomized, program-generated art:
Sources:
http://www.joshuadavis.com/
http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/joshuadavis/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Davis_(web_designer)
