Our first Design Science project was a wonderful computer programming workshop for scientists, designers and artists, led by maths educator Phillip Kent and interaction designer Brock Craft.

The workshop focused on how to think in ways that draw on mathematical concepts to create computational procedures that can be expressed as computer programs.

We invited participants to learn the basics of working with Processing software and then introduced a selection of types of algorithms. We used Processing, a programming language based on Java. This allows its users to code within the context of visual arts so is well-suited to the kinds of projects and tasks which are of interest to design and communication.

The main focus of the workshop involved a programming project to design and develop a program that applied algorithmic ideas to an aspect of design of participants’ own choosing and interest.

Download Phillip Kent's ‘Riley’ code directly from Open Processing

Top: Dynamic Processing sketch by Phillip Kent, inspired by Bridget Riley’s 1960s op art
Below: Example of Processing interface.