Designing compelling interfaces: an exploration of the artist book and how its unique interactive experience can influence the graphical user interface.

Abstract

Traditional art forms have contributed greatly to the interactive design industry and many designers still gain inspiration from painting, carving, weaving, photography, and other various arts. The artist book, which is a fairly new art form, is a mixture of old and new concepts but different from other art forms in that part of the viewer’s experience is made up by physically interacting with the book. To draw a modern day comparison, this interaction of the viewer to the book, is similar to the interaction of a user to a flash site. The goal of this interactive project is to compare two art forms, the artist book to the flash site, and from said comparison, gain insight and inspiration from the user’s experience of the two. By first interacting with the artists’ books that I have created, and then through exploration of the flash site that emulates them, users will have the chance to compare the two experiences and decide which is more compelling. Exploring an artist book will give users a glimpse of a unique type of communication. In an age where computers, television, and books are the main avenue of information, the online artist book is a refreshing and intimate way of connecting people to ideas and allowing them to also experience those ideas.