Programming Posters

Published by Tim on Friday November 23, 2018

Last modified on January 17th, 2026 at 21:01

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The printed poster, the major medium for visual communication in public space for centurys, experiences fundamental transformations. The „Poster 2.0“ is much more than a surface with type, colors and images on it: It is an interactive application, animated, audible, data driven and intermedial. It involves all senses and disciplines. And it melts together graphic design with cutting edge technologies.

The project-idea came up when i’ve prepared a creative coding-course for the faculty of Design at Rhine-Waal University. I’ve aimed to create a design-project-briefing that fits perfectly into the fields of interest of communication designers.

In the beginning of the conception i’ve faced the challenge, that the design-students didn’t know if its possible to create quality graphic-design with a programming-language and no foreknowledge anyway. I needed to proof that before the course began. The outcome of that research is what you see in this case-study.

The Magic Triangle

To ensure a high remarkability and focus, i’ve decided to restrict my students to work exclusively with two colors and a defined font-family. This ensured their maximum focus on the right spot: The creative possibilities of coding. To visualize the restrictions of the project, i usually make use of a creativity-technique called “The Magic Triangle”: Each border of the shape represents one rule or restriction. All 3 borders together build a frame around the creative space, which is literally the area where the ideas exist.

Tech

I’ve discovered Processing as the ideal tool for this project. Compared to other code-based methodologies, the simple application does not require any complicated build-tools. It fits perfectly into the needs of graphics designers and beginners through intuitive commands, a wide range of tutorials, a very good reference and a huge community.

In addition i’ve utilized TouchOSC, a simple application for any platform that sends floating-point-values to any Processing-application. This enabled me to control any parameter of the poster-applications.