News...
"Rapid Ideation Sketching" Wins!

quote: The Institute for the Future of the Book is pleased to announce the winners of our "Born Digital" competition. Entries came from all over the United States as well as Canada, Italy, Australia, Austria, Vietnam, Brazil, Wales, and the UK. The theme of the competition was "illumination." We called for works that address the changing structure of the "page" and the manner in which text and illustration work together in the digital environment. We chose three winners: Anne Frances Wysocki for her poem "Leaved Life;" Juliet Davis for a game-based narrative called, "Pieces of Herself;" Kevin Henry and Rick Pawela for their design textbook, "Rapid Ideation Sketching."

We are currently looking for Publishers...
We are currently looking for publishers to help fund the completion of the Rapid Ideation Sketching Manual. If you are interested in supporting this project. Please Contact us.

About the Project...
"Rapid Ideation Sketching," uses digital media to teach three-dimensional rendering in two-dimensional space. The page is illustrated with time-based animation, Quicktime video, and computer-aided renderings. These "illuminations" allow students to learn analog skills in a digital environment. The rich media elements serve to contextualize these skills and to create awareness of the relationship between computer and analog visualization techniques or knowledge.

Artist Statement:
Our submission for the 2005 "Born Digital" contest is an excerpt from a Digital Book which teaches Product Design Students to quickly create 3D sketches. Drawing three dimensional objects in a two dimensional space is difficult and requires one to actually believe they are drawing in the space. Trying to do this in traditional media (static book form) is difficult. The idea was to provide conceptual background information in traditional print form augmented by 4-D time based animations in both video and Flash animations to give the student more direct interaction with the issues. In addition to teaching drawing, this book also references a broader design context by adding in historical and technical information to increase awareness. Rather than simply teach someone how to draw, this document gives context to ground the process and thereby teach technical information along with historical and conceptual information.

Biographical Information
Kevin Henry is founder and coordinator of the product design program at Columbia College Chicago. Mr. Henry has an M.F.A. in Time Arts from the School of The Art Institute of Chicago as well as an M.F.A. in Industrial Design from The University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been the recipient of a Bronze IDEA award from the Industrial Design Society of America as well as a Good Design award from The Chicago Athenaeum for a catalog designed and produced collaboratively with his wife Anne Dorothee Boehme.

Rick Pawela is a recent Columbia College Chicago graduate. Currently employed through the Oswego Illinois based multimedia & graphic design company WebLinx Inc. Rick designs and programs multimedia applications using mostly Flash. Some of Rick's other interactive projects can be viewed through his online portfolio machinetwelve.com