- Joshua Davis (web designer)
Joshua Davis (born
June 13 ,1971 ) is an Americanweb designer , author and artist innew media . He was an early pioneer in the use ofMacromedia Flash . He is the author of "Flash to the Core" (2002) [cite book|last=Davis|first=Joshua|title=Flash to the Core: An Interactive Sketchbook|publisher=New Riders Publishing|year=2002-07-24 |url=http://flashtothecore.praystation.com/|id=ISBN 0735712883] and was featured in the seminal book "New Masters of Flash " (2000). [cite book|last=Davis|first=Joshua|title=New Masters of Flash|version=1st edition|publisher=Friends of Ed|year=2000|id=ISBN 1-59059-209-3|url=http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1590592093]Biography
A proficient illustrator and painter with a passion for technology, Davis’ work brought an entirely new dimension to art. Utilizing
randomization in controlled environments, orChaos Theory , Davis established a new and unique perspective on visual communication and creative expression, pioneering an area previously unexplored ingraphic design .In January 2001, as part of issue #100 of K10k.net, Davis posted an
autobiography — a revealing look at his personal life in the New York City art/club scene in the early 1990s, hisdrug addiction , and his ability to overcome it to pursue his goal of being a full-time artist. [cite web|title=Issue 100|url=http://www.k10k.net/issues/issuewarp.aspx?IssueID=100|publisher=K10k.net|issue=100|date=2001-01-01 |accessdate=2006-07-07] Davis wrote that once he left the club scene, he aspired to be a writer and illustrator of children's books. It was at thePratt Institute that Davis began to delve into writingHTML , working underThomas Noller in 1995. Soon after, he began to experiment withMacromedia Flash and its early scripting language, and further withActionScript programming.Joshua Davis' work became a major influence in graphic and web design in the "Y2K" era of the Internet’s
dot-com explosion. Davis himself was distinguished from other web designers by his manytattoo s, leading to his reputation as being a web design "rockstar" — a label he dismisses.Fact|date=February 2007 From 1998 to 2001, he worked with the web production companyKioken . When Kioken folded, Davis became an independent web designer and artist, touring the world to speak at variousgraphic design conferences, such asSIGGRAPH ,Flash Forward ,BD4D ,OFFF , Graphika Manila and others.In 2003, he was asked by Tool's
Adam Jones to take over their websites. The band's official site was replaced by an intro page designed by Davis, but has since been changed.cite web|title=TOOL "Swarm" intro|url=http://www.toolband.com/index2.html|accessdate=2006-07-10]In 2002 he teamed up with developer
Branden Hall to form The Department of Notation Studios, a media development studio. The company was disbanded in 2006 when Hall left to form [http://www.automatastudios.com Automata Studios Ltd.] with fellow developerKeenan Keeling . Despite the separation Davis and Hall continue to collaborate on various projects.As of 2007, Davis lives in New York with his wife and daughter. He is a professor at New York’s
School of Visual Arts , runs his own design studio, and continues to lecture and lead workshops in design conferences.Influences
Davis was strongly influenced by
Jackson Pollock , anabstract expressionist whose work came of age in the 1940s and 50s. Pollock splattered paint (as well as other items) across large canvases with the idea that his art was the process of its creation rather than the final product. Embracing the computer as a tool for generating his work, Davis wrote code that randomly distributed, arranged, and distorted his artwork, essentially creating new work as a final result. Other times he generated entire pieces practically completely at random. That is, the art is the code that produces the final result rather than the final randomly generated works themselves.Davis was also influenced by his love of classic
video games , including using a sprite of an alien from "Space Invaders " as his logo for Praystation.Praystation
.
The second year of Praystation.com was compiled into a
CD-ROM called "PrayStation Hardrive", which included source files, photos and miscellaneous items that Joshua Davis worked on during that time, distributed in limited quantities byIdN magazine . The disc included a 32-page booklet and was packaged in a plastic casing modeled after thePlayStation 2 . [cite book|last=Davis|first=Joshua|title=Praystation Hardrive|publisher=Systems Designs, Ltd.|year=2001|id=ISBN 962-86177-1-0]Dreamless
Dreamless.org was the site of a popular
Internet forum , hosted by Joshua Davis from 1999 to 2001. Its minimal design, understated Web presence and hidden registration page all added to its intrigue, and for a while it was a gathering source of creativity for many graphic and web designers and programmers. "Photoshop Battles" were a popular activity among forum members, leading into theinternet phenomenon now referred to asPhotoshop tennis . The community of Dreamless traveled past the boundaries of the Internet — impromptu local meetings ("riots", as Davis called them) were arranged for Dreamless users to meet face-to-face and exchange ideas. The popular community-based designer tee shirt company,Threadless actually began as a thread on Dreamless - which is where the company actually derived the name Threadless.One notorious forum on Dreamless was "08 - Meaningless and Shallow", a topical free-for-all which lead to numerous
flame war s, post floods and user-led CSSvandalism . After several "meltdowns" and member disputes, Davis closed Dreamless in July 2001. Since then, many other web designer-based forums arose in its stead, most notably [http://www.yayhooray.com YayHooray.com] , [http://www.humhum.be Humhum.be] , [http://yauyhooray.com yAUyhooray.com] and [http://butt3rscotch.org butt3rscotch.org] .elected Works
Books
*
*Multimedia
*
Websites
* [http://www.joshuadavis.com/ Joshua Davis Studios]
* [http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com/ Once Upon A Forest]
* [http://ps2.praystation.com/pound/v4/ PrayStation.com] - Year 2, version 4 archiveLectures/Workshops
Awards & Accolades
Joshua Davis was the winner of the 2001 Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica in the category “Net Excellence” and has exhibited his works at the
Tate Modern (London), theArs Electronica (Austria), theDesign Museum (London), leCentre Pompidou (France), theInstitute of Contemporary Arts (London), PS.1 MoMA (New York), among others. PraystationIn December 2006, His work will be inducted into theSmithsonian ’sCooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum ’s "National Design Triennial: Design Life Now" exhibit.cite web|title=National Design Triennial: Design Life Now|url=http://www.cooperhewitt.org/exhibitions/triennial/design_life_now.asp|accessdate=2006-07-07]Notes
External links
* [http://www.joshuadavis.com/ Joshua Davis Studios]
** [http://diary.joshuadavis.com/ Joshua Davis' weblog]
** [http://www.praystation.com/ Praystation] , [http://www.cyphen.com/ Cyphen] , [http://www.dreamless.org/ Dreamless] and [http://www.antiweb-chaos.com/ Antiweb-Chaos] are defunct; each URL redirects to joshuadavis.com.
* [http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com/ Once Upon A Forest]
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