The last decade has witnessed a proliferation of artists whose primary medium is software. Algorithmic processes, harnessed through the medium of computer code, allow artists to generate increasingly complex visual forms that they otherwise might not have been able to imagine, let alone delineate. The newest volume in our Design Brief series Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture is a non-technical introduction to the history, theory, and practice of software in the arts. Organized into themes linked to aspects of code--repetition, transformation, parameters, visualization, and simulation--each of the book's sections contains an essay, code samples, and numerous illustrations. An accompanying website (www.formandcode.com) features code samples in various programming languages for the examples in the book. An ideal introductory text for digital design and media arts courses, this unique primer will also appeal to students and professionals looking for a survey of this exciting new area of artistic production.
Casey Reas is a professor in the Department of Design Media Arts at UCLA. He is the co-creator of Processing, an open-source programming environment for visual designers and artists.
Chandler McWilliams is a media artist and lecturer in the Department of Design Media Arts at UCLA.
LUST is a graphic/interactive design studio based in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Architect magazine :
"Casey Reas and Chandler McWilliams survey digital medias past and current practices in Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture. With more than 250 examples from a range of creative disciplines, its a wallet-friendly, slickly designed primer on the topic."
13 of the Best Design Books of 2010, Fast Company:
"The convergence of data and design is evidenced beautifully in FORM+CODE In Design, Art and Architecture (Princeton Architectural Press, $24.95). Featuring over 250 projects from the past 60 years, it's both a historical survey and technical workbook, written by Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams, and LUST."
Digicult:
"Through an incredible visual design and a rigorous articulation of the relationships among coding and art, design and architecture, FORM+ CODE is a book that approaches new conceptual paradigms in a fresh way, revealing their accessibility and their extraordinariness."
Rhizome.org:
"[Form+Code] is successful on all fronts and in bypassing the coffee table book or veterans-only technical handbook formats the text delivers as a comprehensive introduction to thinking with code. It also doubles as a vital snapshot of recent new media art and that fact, coupled with an accompanying repository of Processing examples will undoubtedly make Form+Code invaluable to students, educators and curious enthusiasts alike."
NEURAL media art/hacktivism blog:
"In Reas' tradition, it also provides plenty of excellent examples of artworks, mentions more sophisticated concepts (like "procedural literacy"), and turns out to be a compendium, a textbook and a collection of ideas. In fact the best quality of this hybrid book is that it is one hundred per cent "inspiring", instead of simply instructional. It goes through contemporary art, design and technology without any formal distinction, only grounding concepts and exploring them effectively."
The New York Times:
"Most books on computer programming tend to be written by and for programmers and are unapologetically incomprehensible to the rest of us. Form + Code is a happy exception. The book, by the American designer-programmers Casey Reas and Chandler McWilliams and the Dutch design group LUST, is not only clearly written, it explains computing phenomena to the techno-challenged by making comparisons with everyday life."
eye:
"Thats right, I said it. Somebody has written a compelling book about computer programming."
KCET.org:
"....a terrific new book.... Each section of the book is full of examples, which are in turn made easily accessible via links on an accompanying website, which also includes sample code. The book's design is lovely, capturing the divergent ways in which code gets manifested, from the visually captivating instances of image repetition to the realism achieved by some artists through code. The books key feature, however, is its advocacy for code literacy, and the idea that there is great power and creativity for all of us in being able to speak directly to computational devices."
An Architecture Blog:
"I never was sure about the potential of computational designing and the aesthetic of it. Why should we - as designers - leave the fun part of artistic expression to computers? Why not draw, sculpture, model or sketch for your self? Coding art, I realised, means something different. It is maybe the attempt to abstract a design problem - telling the computer to produce art and reveal in that way the logic of aesthetics. Of course, quite profane, it is fun to watch the computer producing stuff."
2modern.com:
""You dont have to understand something to love it, right? We sure hope not, because we dont really understand computer programming, but we sure love the book Form + Code: In Design, Art, and Architecture. Though some of whats contained in this book is a little over my head, the parts I do get are fascinating and spark curiosity in me for this little explored topic of design. And, the visual graphics in this book are gorgeous, both mentally and aesthetically.""
Fast Company :
"It's one of the first generation of books making a dramatic statement about our data-driven existence."
Brainpickings.org:
"Elegant and eloquent, compelling yet digestible, the tome dubbed a guide to computational aesthetics offers a fine piece of eye-and-brain stimulation for the age of digital creativity."
We Make Money Not Art Blog:
"Form+Code is the perfect opening for designers, visual artists, and architects eager to explore the possibilities that coding offers.Reading this book, there is no doubt left that code is hidden in every single discipline that shape contemporary visual culture: sculptures, information aesthetics, story-telling, live performances, graphic design, large-scale installations, industrial design, photography, gaming, articial life, etc."
CreativeApplications.net:
"Fantastic resource for anyone who wants to learn code... Beautifully laid out with clear graphic distinction between the chapters and example pages makes it a wonderful read. Highly recommended!"
BOOK NEWS, Inc.:
"This small colorful volume examines the nexus of design and computers by presenting a collection of art created from code and ordered information. Beginning with chapters defining terms and discussing the basics of code and computer art, the work proceeds through a collection of themed chapters illustrated with photographs. Each chapter begins with an essay explaining the processes and techniques involved in the creation of the designs. This volume includes the work of over two hundred designers, artist and architects and source code for many of the works, available in several programming languages, is provide through a companion website."
