The Language of New Media Design is an innovative new textbook presenting methods on the design and analysis of a variety of non-linear texts, from websites to CD-Roms. Integrating theory and practice, the book explores a range of models for analyzing and constructing multimedia products. For each model the authors outline the theoretical background and demonstrate usage from students' coursework, commonly available websites and other multimedia products. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book adopts an accessible approach to the subject which has been trialled and tested on MA students at the London College of Communication. Written by experienced authors, this textbook will be an invaluable resource for students and teachers of new media design, information technology, linguistics and semiotics.

A stimulating, eclectic accountof new media that finds its origins in old media, particularly the cinema. In this book Lev Manovich offers the first systematic and rigorous theory of new media. He places new media within the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He also analyzes categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and database. Manovich uses concepts from film theory, art history, literary theory, and computer science and also develops new theoretical constructs, such as cultural interface, spatial montage, and cinegratography. The theory and history of cinema play a particularly important role in the book. Among other topics, Manovich discusses parallels between the histories of cinema and of new media, digital cinema, screen and montage in cinema and in new media, and historical ties between avant-garde film and new media.

'The Language of Graphic Design' provides graphic design students and practitioners with an in-depth understanding of the fundamental elements and principles of their language, what they are, why they are important and how to use them effectively.

Type and Image The Language of Graphic Design Philip B. Meggs What is the essence of graphic design? How do graphic designers solve problems, organize space, and imbue their work with those visual and symbolic qualities that enable it to convey visual and verbal information with expression and clarity? The extraordinary flowering of graphic design in our time, as a potent means for communication and a major component of our visual culture, increases the need for designers, clients, and students to comprehend its nature. In this lively and lavishly illustrated book, the author reveals the very essence of graphic design. The elements that combine to form a design— sings, symbols, words, pictures, and supporting forms—are analyzed and explained. Graphic design’s ability to function as language, and the innovative ways that designers combine words and pictures, are discussed. While all visual arts share common spatial properties, the author demonstrates that graphic space has unique characteristics that are determined by its communicative function. Graphic designs can have visual and symbolic properties which empower them to communicate with deep expression and meaning. The author defines this property as graphic resonance and explains how it occurs. After defining design as a problem-solving process, a model for this process is developed and illustrated by an in-depth analysis of actual case histories. This book will provide insight and inspiration for everyone who is interested or involved in graphic communications. While most materials about form and meaning in design have a European origin, this volume is based on the dynamic and expressive graphic design of America. The reader will find inspiration, hundreds of exciting examples by many of America’s outstanding graphic designers, and keen insights in Type and Image.

Offers the first look at the aesthetics of contemporary design from the theoretical perspectives of media theory and 'software studies'.

A sourcebook of historical written texts, video documentation, and working programs that form the foundation of new media. This reader collects the texts, videos, and computer programs—many of them now almost impossible to find—that chronicle the history and form the foundation of the still-emerging field of new media. General introductions by Janet Murray and Lev Manovich, along with short introductions to each of the texts, place the works in their historical context and explain their significance. The texts were originally published between World War II—when digital computing, cybernetic feedback, and early notions of hypertext and the Internet first appeared—and the emergence of the World Wide Web—when they entered the mainstream of public life. The texts are by computer scientists, artists, architects, literary writers, interface designers, cultural critics, and individuals working across disciplines. The contributors include (chronologically) Jorge Luis Borges, Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, Ivan Sutherland, William S. Burroughs, Ted Nelson, Italo Calvino, Marshall McLuhan, Jean Baudrillard, Nicholas Negroponte, Alan Kay, Bill Viola, Sherry Turkle, Richard Stallman, Brenda Laurel, Langdon Winner, Robert Coover, and Tim Berners-Lee. The CD accompanying the book contains examples of early games, digital art, independent literary efforts, software created at universities, and home-computer commercial software. Also on the CD is digitized video, documenting new media programs and artwork for which no operational version exists. One example is a video record of Douglas Engelbart's first presentation of the mouse, word processor, hyperlink, computer-supported cooperative work, video conferencing, and the dividing up of the screen we now call non-overlapping windows; another is documentation of Lynn Hershman's Lorna, the first interactive video art installation.

Graphic Design, Referenced is a visual and informational guide to the most commonly referenced terms, historical moments, landmark projects, and influential practitioners in the field of graphic design. With more than 2,000 design projects illustrating more than 400 entries, it provides an intense overview of the varied elements that make up the graphic design profession through a unique set of chapters: “principles" defines the very basic foundation of what constitutes graphic design to establish the language, terms, and concepts that govern what we do and how we do it, covering layout, typography, and printing terms; “knowledge" explores the most influential sources through which we learn about graphic design from the educational institutions we attend to the magazines and books we read; “representatives" gathers the designers who over the years have proven the most prominent or have steered the course of graphic design in one way or another; and “practice" highlights some of the most iconic work produced that not only serve as examples of best practices, but also illustrate its potential lasting legacy. Graphic Design, Referenced serves as a comprehensive source of information and inspiration by documenting and chronicling the scope of contemporary graphic design, stemming from the middle of the twentieth century to today.