Threads

2020-08-03 Fighting with limited time and resources to deliver
@variable_io projects I ask myself much more often "why" instead of just "what". I'm experimenting with what I call "reverse goal map" showing what needs to happen and shortest way to get there.

Compare that to typical project task breakdown which while useful almost always leads to scope creep and infinitely nested todo lists. Everything seems nice to have and there is no clear way to prune branches.

The little UI to make those mind maps is done of course in @nodes_io using @codemirror and @thing_umbrella.

2020-05-21 “So what do you do?” After 7 years of running @variable_io I’m still struggling to give one answer. Looking at the surface of our website at http://variable.io you might say we mostly do fancy 3d data-driven graphics. In the times like now you start to wonder who is it for?

The fact that is bespoke makes it expensive, the fact that we try to stay “true to the data” makes it complicated for ad-agencies due to timelines, for more technical people fancy visuals often mean ambiguity. That's only part of the story...

The way I think about data and design is beyond surface level visual outputs, making invisible visible, art+tech and other slogans.

The definitions closest to my heart are those of computational thinking and meta-design, building systems and deconstructing existing ones.

The output might be visual but it doesn't have to be. It can be a tool or a process or simply new way to look at things.

Which brings me back to our (@variable_io) role as a studio. Taking advantage of the slow down in commercial work we are now working on new ways to use our skills, share our knowledge and contribute back to the wider community beyond our immediate niche. Exciting things ahead!

2020-03-22 In almost every creative coding / data art project I hit the "the more I work on it the worse it looks" wall. I always wondered why? Hype cycle graph turns out to be surprisingly accurate model of what's happening. Here is my version.

2019-10-16 The Memex Drama, or how not to read Twitter threads in @figmadesign. Starring: @fortelabs @Conaw @hanbzu @Ceasar_Bautista and @visakanv. Full zoomable version here https://www.figma.com/... cc:@round

2019-09-06 Interesting way to visualise complexity by showing nesting level of each line of code from 30 source files. Found in “3D Representations for Software Visualization”

http://www.cs.kent.edu/~jmaletic/papers/softvis03.pdf

Which brings the question how would Google Maps for code look like? Imagine travelling through stack traces in 2D not 1D..

2019-04-02 Our digital tools despite cloud, collaboration, GPUs, "AI" and mobile/touch/xr are still 1st Gen when it comes to enabling deep thinking and creative problem solving. Thread 1/6

Gen 1. Input. Access to information, content creation and capture is easier than ever. Google, Twitter, Pinterest, Instapaper, YouTube your phone camera or note taking apps, etc but all we get is a soup of information. Never ending flood of anxiety triggers and FOMO. 2/6

Gen 2. Organisation. Users “incapable” of dealing with overload are given infinite algorithmic streams and AI curated moments/snapshots. Instead of zooming out we get hyper focused interfaces that inhibit thought all under umbrella of user centred design and simplicity. 3/6

Just try to navigate your Google Drive, make family album out of your 70k photos collection, find something on your FB timeline, follow discussion on Twitter including external links or organise your notes scattered across 5 apps. I feel dumb instantly, almost disabled. 4/6

Tools like @NotionHQ with spatial layouts and alternative views,
@figmadesign as digital canvas used for non design work, @aredotna channels and algorithms like t-SNE give me hope but I dare to call them Gen 1.2 at most. I want multi-view and multi-source information spaces. 5/6

Gen 3. Thinking. Malleable tools adapting to task at hand, User Space programming, AI agents enhancing perception instead of making decisions for me and means of navigating thought vectors in concept spacet as mentioned by @samim (source? https://thoughtvectors.net/syllabus/). Discuss. 6/6