Artcodes

Artcodes is research that has grown out of a previous research project called aestheticodes. Using the research done in the previous project and partnered with designers based at Central Saint Martins and computer scientists from the Mixed Reality Lab and Horizon Digital Economy Research Institute at the University of Nottingham we wanted to test the software in the public domain. Using various commercial partners and everyday scenarios we wanted to put artcodes out into the ‘real world’ and test the response.

Through this collaboration we have developed a new interaction technology relies upon drawing and creativity to drive it. We call this the artcode, a paradigm shift in visual recognition technology. The artcode has all of the interactive properties of a QR code but with an in built aesthetic quality. Easy to draw, playful and poetic, the artcode puts the human back into Computer Human Interaction. Images are programmed by observing some simple drawing rules, which once mastered enable the designer to create all manner of interactive imagery. The artcode points to a future, where interactive devices such as smart phones and tablets are triggered by artwork, patterns, motifs and tags that adorn our built environment, our public spaces, our homes, our clothes and our objects.