Download Creative Software for the Creative Industry

Creative Software for
the Creative Industries
Dr. Simon Colton
Department of Computing
Imperial College, London
Increasing Creativity in a
Design/Advertising Firm
Fundamentally
Different

Hire a new employee

Buy some fancy software

Send staff on a tree-hugging course

Design studios, fashion houses and advertising
agencies hire creative people. Their employees
have certain skills which enable them to carry out
their duties. These skills include the ability to
innovate and create – the last thing employers in
the creative industries want is employees that do
exactly as they are told to.

Design studios, fashion houses and advertising
agencies buy uncreative software. Their programs
have certain skills which enable them to carry out
their duties. These skills very rarely include an
ability to innovate and create – computer users in
the creative industries expect their software to do
exactly what it is told to.
Using Software to
Enhance Creativity

Employ software to increase the skill base of the user


Employ software to increase the efficiency of the user


Scope for creativity is higher
Evaluate more design solutions
Employ software to act creatively independently of the user

Surely not? But this is why you hire someone new…
A New Outlook
on Software Usage

The “How Would You Have Done That” Button

Provides alternative solutions to design tasks
 That

require creativity in the user
Alternatives are chosen so that
The user will appreciate them
 The user may not have thought of trying them


Software acts as a creative partner

Not just as a tool, but also for inspiration
Not to be Confused With

Adaptive software


Using macros in Photoshop, etc.



Improves with usage
User still makes the choices
Software makes decisions only which
follow from the user’s choices
Software is hardly likely to surprise or
positively affect the approach to design
Tony Blair

“Well, how would you
have done that?”
Tony Blair
A man on a mission?

A design student
produces this, and asks…
Project Proposal

Work on visual design tools
Production of artworks, posters, flyers,
 Desktop publishing, web pages, …


First half of project

Build and assess prototypes
 Design

abilities & creative abilities
Second half of the project

Apply technology to existing packages
 Such
as Photoshop, etc.
Prototypes

First axis of development


Ability to produce:


Abstract art, photomontages, posters, multimedia web pages
Via implementation of:


Graphics ability
Bitmap transformations, layers, text, HTML
objects, web output
Prototypes to be built from the ThreeCreate
program, described later
Prototypes

Second axis of development


Ability to take responsibility


Creative ability
Learn user’s preferences, redesign
documents, assess aesthetics
Via implementation of techniques from:

Human-computer interfaces, machine
learning, Artificial Intelligence search
Assessment

For early prototypes


For later prototypes


Tests with people in the creative industries
Need to evaluate:


Tests with arts and design students
Amount and ease of usage, respect/trust in
the program, perceived value of products
Later prototypes improved

In line with good and bad observations
HCI Aspects

User requirements studies

Harvest every piece of information





How user chooses materials
How user transforms materials
How user places materials
How user assesses products & service
The “How Would You?” Button

Non-intrusive interface



Record and playback
Entire document re-engineering
Parameters for trust, innovation, etc.
Machine Learning Aspects

Learn rules about choice of materials
Image analysis, e.g., colour histograms
 Neural networks for feature recognition


Learn rules about how user works


Inductive Logic Programming (ILP)
Learn rules about user aesthetics

ILP, Neural nets for image analysis
AI Search Aspects


Define search space over possible
documents and sub-documents
Constrain using information from
Pre-programmed best practice
 Rules about the user
 Rules about other users


Constructively break the rules


Appeal to aesthetic considerations, not
observed practice
Search techniques

GOFAI, Evolutionary approaches
The ThreeCreate Program
Line Drawings
Montages
Paintings
Some More Inspiration

Michaelangelo’s big break

Vygotskyian tools

Tools shape the design process
 Radical

new tools from the computer
Have you ever used the wrong
Photoshop filter, and kept the image?

Increase serendipity
Actively Seeking…

Input from the visual design community


In academia and at large
Potential partner
At the investigator level?
 At the consultant level?


Firms in the creative industries

Design, advertising, fashion, games,
architecture, web designers