What is Design?
Short animated film based on content from the The Whole Earth Catalog
Task
Bring the visual culture of the Whole Earth Catalog to life
What is Design? explores the aspects of Form, Structure, and Movement through cutout style animation derived from imagery from The Last Whole Earth Catalog (1971-75). This catalog was important in establishing one of the locations where the film was created as a destination for counterculture, intentional communities, and techno-agrarian style of design innovation. The cutout technique and style of What is Design? draws inspiration from such work as Harry Smith’s Heaven and Earth Magic (1962). It seems likely that readers of the Whole Earth Catalog and the experimental animator / anthologist of American Folk music were part of a larger community of like-minded individuals.
In keeping with the exploratory scientific feel of aspects of the catalog, all of the individual frames in the film were captured with a digital microscope. This technique was also chosen in order to preserve the textures and details of the original printed material. The soundtrack is based on audio from Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1894), chosen for the sonic textures indicative of early recording medium and edited in stereo to compliment the visual components in the film.
Looking forward to solving more design problems through in-depth research, iteration, and user centered approaches.