“Less is More - Lo Res / Low Bandwith Design”

The exponential growth of technology means there are no limits. But where's the fun in that?

We are going back to the binary…

This 3-credit, studio class takes the form of a series of workshops both on screen and on paper, exploring approaches to making design, games, illustration, animation and type within extreme restrictions. We will be identifying the opportunities and challenges of technologies old and new, from textiles to teletext, and thinking about the context of their application.

Key to this class will be thinking about the transferability and scaleability of low-resolution design - from pixel to stitch, and from the small screen to the urban screen. We will consider the historical context of lo-res digital design, from net-art to nintendo, and examine why designers and artists today use old methods, technologies and aesthetics to make new work.

Students will be pushing pixels, programming for pico consoles, and punching patterns for knitting machines. You will have to be economical and creative in your use of space, colour and memory, whilst taking into account legibility, fidelity and flexibility. Amongst other things we will be encoding a message to send into space, drawing game sprites, and designing socks - all whilst listening to chiptune.

Course requirements:

- mac / pc with webcam / sound

- A small software budget will be required (approx $15 US TBC), as well as a budget paper, card, pens etc

Pixil Art - browser based drawing tool

Open source, experimental, and tiny tools roundup - everst Pipkin

Zoyander Street - pico-8 game

Small File Festival - https://smallfile.ca/

Dithermark

TASK - go from black to white (24 wide x 60) - thinking about background dither pattersn, bayer etc) - ref : High Score odcumenttary on Netflix