INTERVIEW WITH MATT DESLAURIERS

Matt DesLauriers is a Toronto-born artist and creative coder now living in London. Matt: “I’d like to say the outputs we make during the classes will be exciting, but perhaps more exciting will be the new possibilities that will open to you after learning to use code creatively”.

I have read that someone has to understand a visualization within seconds, others say visualizations should leave something to explore. What is your opinion on this?
Visualization is a broad term with a wide spectrum of applications, and this is one of the things we will be exploring within the 2-day course. Some designers lean more toward the scientific end of the spectrum, pulling insights and significant statistics from a set of data. Others are driven by stories, and search for compelling features and ideas between the data points. Others are excited by art and abstraction, and wish to use data as an input for more experimental work. Data visualization don’t need to be so predictable or cut and dry— sometimes the most effective visualizations are those that draw users in and have them engaging for longer periods. This is also one of the great things about working with the web and JavaScript as a platform, as it allows users to interact and play with the visualization in ways that print and video cannot achieve.

What tools are important to learn when you want to work with visualizations?  
Visualizing data, especially in an interactive form, is a hard problem that often involves a whole suite of different ideas, tools, software, and practices. It brings together research, storytelling, data science, user experience, and visual design. Computational thinking is an important thread that connects these different processes, and we will learn to use code as a tool, much like an artist would use a paint brush.

What is the most frequently asked question in your training sessions and what is your answer to this? 
The question I get the most is “How do I start?” and after that, “How do I continue on my own?” The course is not only about learning to code, but also learning how to problem-solve with software. We’ll learn debugging, testing, iterating, and how to think computationally. We’ll also explore some of the communities and forums that information designers and creative coders use to support and inspire each other.

What is the most exciting aspect of your training?
The 2-day course will provide a strong introduction to the theory and practice of working with creative coding for data visualization and interactive projects. I’d like to say the outputs we make during the classes will be exciting, but perhaps more exciting will be the new possibilities that will open to you after learning to use code creatively. The class will give you the foundation to go on with your own ideas and designs, coming up with new projects and coded information graphics long after the class is finished.

What lessons do you want the participants to take home for the training?
I hope participants will learn to use code as a creative medium, allowing them not only to express designs from data and information, but also create other forms of creative projects such as real-time animations, interactive media, playful websites, and digital installations.