Designers use digital tools. We calculate with Excel, paint with Photoshop, create virtual objects or spaces with Rhino or Archicad. We use specific tools for specific tasks. This module, however, is not about the use of tools but about digital tool-making: programming. Programming is a universal tool, a meta-tool, for creating specific tools.
Tool creation has always played a role in established fields of design.
When designs existed as ideas but could not be implemented because the necessary tools were lacking, the tools necessary for implementation had to be created.
Limiting oneself to existing tools restricts the scope for design. This also applies to design with digital tools. Specific programmes create specific design frames. They set limits. Counteracting this with your own tools is in the interest of all designers who work with digital tools.
The module will introducing the Java Library and IDE ‘Processing’.
What is Processing? Processing is a programming language and programming environment developed by designers for designers.
As in other programming languages, any digital application can be created in Processing. The focus is on programming static, dynamic and interactive graphics applications. The tool makes it easier to program image worlds. Typical areas of application are generative art, data visualisation and small computer games. The applications are not limited to visual functions but can be easily supplemented with sounds or external control devices to create multimedia applications.
Tools such as Processing give designers access to a huge range of new design tools and, at the same time, the opportunity to learn the basics of media informatics and programming.
