by Niklas Dostal -

ANALOG VS DIGITAL UND WIESO DIESE DEBATTE UNSINNIG IS

Filmkameras waren für die längste Zeit das bevorzugte Werkzeug der Blockbuster-Industrie. Der hervorragende Dynamikumfang sowie das scharfe Bild waren filmische Eigenschaften, die man nicht aufgeben wollte. Zudem waren Filmkameras perfekt gebaut für den Einsatz auf großen Sets mit langen Drehtagen. Das änderte sich, als ARRI die Filmlandschaft auf den Kopf stellte und 2009 mit der ARRI Alexa einen Durchbruch im Digitalbereich gelang. Roger Deakins (Kameramann von Filmen wie “Die Verurteilten”, “Blade Runner 2049” oder “James Bond 007: Skyfall”) sagte später in einem Interview: “This Camera has brought us to a point where digital is simply better.” 

Dass sich seither die Filmlandschaft stark gewandelt hat, steht außer Frage. Filme, die auf Celluloid-Film gedreht werden gestalten heutzutage die Ausnahme. Filmrollen sind teuer und kosten viel Geld in der Entwicklung und Lagerung, zudem ist eine Filmkamera wesentlich schwerer bedienbar. Damit am Ende ein scharfes und korrekt belichtetes Bild entsteht, verlangt es ebenfalls nach einem guten Fokuszieher sowie jemand Erfahrenem hinter der Kamera. Digitaler Film ist hingegen wesentlich einfacher in der Bedienung, denn was man sieht ist in der Regel auch das, was man filmt. Vor allem kleinere Produktionen profitieren immens von dieser Entwicklung und den geringeren Kosten, ohne dabei wirklich an Qualität einbüßen zu müssen. Wenn man nun die Vorteile mit den Nachteilen vergleicht liegt die Antwort auf der Hand – Digitalbild ist dem Analogfilm überlegen, oder?

Drehbuchautor und Regisseur Quentin Tarantino sagte in einem Interview folgendes: “I have always believed in the magic of movies and to me the magic of movies is connected to 35mm.” Obwohl die Bildqualität von Digitalkameras mittlerweile nahezu perfekt ist, von gestochen scharfer Auflösung bis hin zur akkuraten Farbwiedergabe, sind es gerade die Makel des analogen Films, die Enthusiasten als “Magie” betiteln. Zu diesen Charakteristiken gehören die Körnung, rote Lichthöfe, kleine Verschiebungen von Bild zu Bild und natürlich auch die Farben des jeweiligen Filmstocks sowie Charakteristiken die in der je nach Art der Entwicklung des Films entstehen. Schließlich beeinflusst auch die Wiedergabe des finalen Films auf einem Laufbildprojektor (statt dem digitalen Pendant) die Erfahrung des Zuschauers. Viele dieser Faktoren spielen eine große Rolle für den Look des finalen Bilds und können bei der kleinsten Abweichung bereits einen wahrnehmbaren Einfluss auf das Werk ausüben. “It certainly got a lot of advantages that film never had, consistency being a really big one”, sagte Roger Deakins über digitale Kameras und Projektoren. Wenn von der Magie des Analogfilms gesprochen wird, wird oftmals auf jene Abweichungen und Ungenauigkeiten verwiesen. Die Tatsache nicht genau zu wissen, was sich am Ende des Tages in dieser schwarzen Box versteckt, lässt viele Liebhaber romantisierend über Film sprechen. 

Steve Yedlin, Kameramann von Filmen wie “Knives Out” oder “Star Wars: The last Jedi” vertritt einen klaren Standpunkt: “As artists, to put all of our faith in the illusory simplicity of bundled systems instead of understanding the analytic components that are the undeniable building blocks of the process is to give up our control and authorship.” Dabei redet Yedlin nicht nur von Filmkameras, sondern auch von digitalen Kameras. Ihm zufolge sei die in der Filmbranche dominante Narrative, nämlich dass die Wahl einer bestimmten Kamera oder Filmstock maßgeblich für den finalen Look und somit auch für die Wahrnehmung und Erfahrung des Zuschauers zuständig sei, schlichtweg falsch. Yedlin plädiert eine Kamera nicht als ein Stilmittel zu sehen, sondern als ein System zu betrachten, das rohe Informationen über das Licht, das durch die Optik eindringt, speichert. Die Ästhetik entsteht laut Yedlin erst später in der Nachbearbeitung, wenn mit den Daten gearbeitet wird und nicht mit dem Gerät, das die Daten aufzeichnet. Als Beweis dafür führt er in seiner “Display Prep Demo” einen Vergleich zwischen 35mm Film und digitalen Bildmaterial auf. Beide sehen zum verwechseln ähnlich aus und unterstützen seine These, trotzdem verweist Yedlin darauf, dass man noch mehr testen, evaluieren und programmieren müsste, um perfekte Ergebnisse in der Gestaltung eines korrekten Filmlooks erzielen zu können. 

Ob man die Ästhetik des Celluloid Films nun mag oder nicht, sei dahingestellt, was Yedlin beschreibt ist ein grundlegendes Missverständnis in der Debatte. Dass Hersteller ihre Produkte verkaufen wollen und mit halb wahren oder irreführenden Aussagen locken, gießt hierbei leider nur Öl ins Feuer. Fakt ist jedoch, dass moderne digitale Filmkameras mit ihrer Qualität an einem Punkt angekommen sind, an dem man mit einer Daten schonenden Postproduktion-Pipeline vollste kreative Freiheit genießt, und Freiheit ist zumindest in meinen Augen das wichtigste Gut eines jeden Künstlers.

Filmkameras waren für die längste Zeit das bevorzugte Werkzeug der Blockbuster-Industrie. Der hervorragende Dynamikumfang sowie das scharfe Bild waren filmische Eigenschaften, die man nicht aufgeben wollte. Zudem waren Filmkameras perfekt gebaut für den Einsatz auf großen Sets mit langen Drehtagen. Das änderte sich, als ARRI die Filmlandschaft auf den Kopf stellte und 2009 mit der ARRI Alexa einen Durchbruch im Digitalbereich gelang. Roger Deakins (Kameramann von Filmen wie “Die Verurteilten”, “Blade Runner 2049” oder “James Bond 007: Skyfall”) sagte später in einem Interview: “This Camera has brought us to a point where digital is simply better.” 

Dass sich seither die Filmlandschaft stark gewandelt hat, steht außer Frage. Filme, die auf Celluloid-Film gedreht werden gestalten heutzutage die Ausnahme. Filmrollen sind teuer und kosten viel Geld in der Entwicklung und Lagerung, zudem ist eine Filmkamera wesentlich schwerer bedienbar. Damit am Ende ein scharfes und korrekt belichtetes Bild entsteht, verlangt es ebenfalls nach einem guten Fokuszieher sowie jemand Erfahrenem hinter der Kamera. Digitaler Film ist hingegen wesentlich einfacher in der Bedienung, denn was man sieht ist in der Regel auch das, was man filmt. Vor allem kleinere Produktionen profitieren immens von dieser Entwicklung und den geringeren Kosten, ohne dabei wirklich an Qualität einbüßen zu müssen. Wenn man nun die Vorteile mit den Nachteilen vergleicht liegt die Antwort auf der Hand – Digitalbild ist dem Analogfilm überlegen, oder?

Drehbuchautor und Regisseur Quentin Tarantino sagte in einem Interview folgendes: “I have always believed in the magic of movies and to me the magic of movies is connected to 35mm.” Obwohl die Bildqualität von Digitalkameras mittlerweile nahezu perfekt ist, von gestochen scharfer Auflösung bis hin zur akkuraten Farbwiedergabe, sind es gerade die Makel des analogen Films, die Enthusiasten als “Magie” betiteln. Zu diesen Charakteristiken gehören die Körnung, rote Lichthöfe, kleine Verschiebungen von Bild zu Bild und natürlich auch die Farben des jeweiligen Filmstocks sowie Charakteristiken die in der je nach Art der Entwicklung des Films entstehen. Schließlich beeinflusst auch die Wiedergabe des finalen Films auf einem Laufbildprojektor (statt dem digitalen Pendant) die Erfahrung des Zuschauers. Viele dieser Faktoren spielen eine große Rolle für den Look des finalen Bilds und können bei der kleinsten Abweichung bereits einen wahrnehmbaren Einfluss auf das Werk ausüben. “It certainly got a lot of advantages that film never had, consistency being a really big one”, sagte Roger Deakins über digitale Kameras und Projektoren. Wenn von der Magie des Analogfilms gesprochen wird, wird oftmals auf jene Abweichungen und Ungenauigkeiten verwiesen. Die Tatsache nicht genau zu wissen, was sich am Ende des Tages in dieser schwarzen Box versteckt, lässt viele Liebhaber romantisierend über Film sprechen. 

Steve Yedlin, Kameramann von Filmen wie “Knives Out” oder “Star Wars: The last Jedi” vertritt einen klaren Standpunkt: “As artists, to put all of our faith in the illusory simplicity of bundled systems instead of understanding the analytic components that are the undeniable building blocks of the process is to give up our control and authorship.” Dabei redet Yedlin nicht nur von Filmkameras, sondern auch von digitalen Kameras. Ihm zufolge sei die in der Filmbranche dominante Narrative, nämlich dass die Wahl einer bestimmten Kamera oder Filmstock maßgeblich für den finalen Look und somit auch für die Wahrnehmung und Erfahrung des Zuschauers zuständig sei, schlichtweg falsch. Yedlin plädiert eine Kamera nicht als ein Stilmittel zu sehen, sondern als ein System zu betrachten, das rohe Informationen über das Licht, das durch die Optik eindringt, speichert. Die Ästhetik entsteht laut Yedlin erst später in der Nachbearbeitung, wenn mit den Daten gearbeitet wird und nicht mit dem Gerät, das die Daten aufzeichnet. Als Beweis dafür führt er in seiner “Display Prep Demo” einen Vergleich zwischen 35mm Film und digitalen Bildmaterial auf. Beide sehen zum verwechseln ähnlich aus und unterstützen seine These, trotzdem verweist Yedlin darauf, dass man noch mehr testen, evaluieren und programmieren müsste, um perfekte Ergebnisse in der Gestaltung eines korrekten Filmlooks erzielen zu können. 

Ob man die Ästhetik des Celluloid Films nun mag oder nicht, sei dahingestellt, was Yedlin beschreibt ist ein grundlegendes Missverständnis in der Debatte. Dass Hersteller ihre Produkte verkaufen wollen und mit halb wahren oder irreführenden Aussagen locken, gießt hierbei leider nur Öl ins Feuer. Fakt ist jedoch, dass moderne digitale Filmkameras mit ihrer Qualität an einem Punkt angekommen sind, an dem man mit einer Daten schonenden Postproduktion-Pipeline vollste kreative Freiheit genießt, und Freiheit ist zumindest in meinen Augen das wichtigste Gut eines jeden Künstlers.

Links:
https://www.arri.com/en/company/about-arri/history/history
https://youtu.be/BON9Ksn1PqI
https://youtu.be/p2Z4UvAdE7E
https://www.yedlin.net/DisplayPrepDemo/index.html

by Marcelino Zus -

Print experiment: “reality is analog” // part I–concept & design

As an experiment for my research I came up with the idea to produce a poster edition using a linocut as well as a hand set lettering. In addition I’ve planned to make photos of every poster to see the development of the print run and finally will hang the posters in public space to observe how people will react to the poster.

Part I–concept & design

Inspired by the claim “Reality Is Analog” I wanted to create a poster, delivering the message via a typographic layout but also transporting the nuances and very own features of analog print production. For this I got in touch with Druckzeug, the local museum for antique and 20th century printing techniques and letterpress playground in Graz, who kindly supported me to implement the project by opening the workshop and giving instructions in operating the machines (more info about Druckzeug, hand set letterings and steps of printing to follow).

Aside from the various possibilities in using typography for the poster –fonts, cuts, font size, alignment and layout–for the main theme I dealt with the classical geometrical problem of the quadrature of the circle (Quadratur des Kreises). To me, this problem, describing the impossibility to create–with finitely many steps–a square and a circle that have the exact same area, just seemed like a perfect analogy to the imperfection that’s very likely to occur in analog production.

However, as only a square and a circle didn’t seem to be highly attractive, besides repeating the theme I also added a tilt to every second square in order to provoke the viewers’ visual perception and thus emphasize the optical effects of the poster.

So for the first step I started to simulate a few variations and combinations of type and the graphic theme on the computer, offering infinite possibilities.

For the analog production however I had to decide on one variation and being quite inexperienced in the field of linocut I tried to keep it rather simple, which led me to this design for the main theme:

Check back soon for the next step: linocut.

by Marcelino Zus -

Analog / Digital – Reality Is Analog

In my first posting on my research about analog and digital, I stated that in today’s tech companies there’s a high awareness for analog methods and processes. This interesting fact came out of the book The Revenge Of Analog by Canadian journalist David Sax in 2016. The book gives an overview about analog tools and media and how vinyl records, paper notebooks, films and board games conquer with their digital pendants. In addition Sax describes analog approaches in publishing, work and school.

However, the final chapter of the book deals with “The Revenge of Analog, in Digital“. For this chapter David Sax visited numerous high tech companies in Silicon Valley, speaking to project managers, designers and founders. Throughout the interviews Sax found out that in the very digital world of software developing giants, there’s not only a high level of appreciation for analog methods and processes, but also for the awareness of the analog nature that’s inherent to humans and their use of the five senses.

At Adobe Scott Unterberg, back then project manager for the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of programs, started with daily meditation sessions, which soon was attended by more and more employees, taking 15 minutes a day away from screens and technology. As the positive effects attendees’ stress levels were found to be lowered and likewise their health was improved. This seemed reason enough for Adobe to enroll the so called Project Breathe all over their global offices and meditation sessions became common, practically mandatory, throughout the Silicon Valley like Google’s Search Inside Yourself program.

On the more practical side, Kush Amerasinghe, scientist and strategic executive at Adobe helped to create the Adobe Kickbox Personal Innovation Kit. The kit is basically a box filled with post-it notes, instructions for taking an idea from scratch to reality, coffee and chocolate, pens and pencils, paper notebooks and $1,000 prepaid credit card. The initiative behind this emergency box was “…to focus on the idea, and not get constrained by the nitty gritty of technology. Programmers inherently have a bad habit of jumping into code and building when they get an idea.“


A similar phenomenon was described by John Skidgel, UX designer at Google – “Computer design software immediately looks real, and because of this, designers too often get caught up in precise but utterly pointless details.“ That’s why Skidgel, himself always sketching first drafts on paper, started courses for designers, where they would learn to draw vertical lines, horizontal lines, dotted lines, shadings or text boxes as tools in order to “enable Google’s designers to focus on quickly and effectively communicating new ideas, without getting mired in the infinitely adjustable variables that design software allows“. This sketching classes were so effective that Skidgel’s course is now taught to all Google UX and UI designers world-wide.

Besides meditation and analog approaches in developing ideas, David Sax, on his tour through Silicon Valley, also realized that in contrast to the very virtual software developed at the companies, the interior somehow seemed to ground the staff in the very real world of analog things. At Yelp he found classic white boards used as platforms to exchange ideas all over the place. At Pinterest he met brand design manager Evertett Katigbak, who had a background in letterpress printing. Katigbak told Sax about his time when he worked at Facebook. Together with designer Ben Barry they set up some printing equipment in the Facebook warehouse, initially to come over “frustration over an obsession with data and metrics [and the printshop being] an attempt to humanize the brand for an internal audience, and to humanize the user.“ For a joke they called it the Analog Research Laboratory, producing signs with slogans such as “If It Works, It’s Obsolete“ and “every possible variation on the word “hack“ and its use in phrase.“

When Mark Zuckerberg heard about their signs, he asked them to produce two hand-printed signs for Facebook’s annual app developer conference. The popularity of these signs resulted in the Analog Research Laboratory becoming part of Facebook’s corporate structure with fixed space, budget and eventually full-time stuff.

Another aspect that David Sax mentioned was the limits of digital technology. Not only that human intelligence makes a good add on to artificial intelligence used to suggest contents on Twitter, Youtube or Instagram, the concept of human-in-the-loop is also part of critical infrastructure as nuclear power plants, military systems as well as airplanes. Besides, computer engineers have concerns that in digital computing, processors are constantly gaining in speed, while energy efficiency is relatively stagnant, which in future may result in problems with power supplies. A solution to this could be analog computing, a theoretic technology which doesn’t work with exact calculations of 1’s and 0’s but rather approximate calculations, recognizing patterns and thus using far less energy.

Finally, as digital media is screen based, it hardly addresses any sense but vision and hearing. Blaise Bertrand, director of industrial design at design firm IDEO warns that there is an “impoverishment of senses“ due to the attraction of digital media that pulls people into the screens. On the other hand Bertrand is confident that “those who would build the technologies that really could change the world were the ones who readily acknowledged the limits of digital and the benefits of analog.“ Dan Shapiro, founder of Glowforge that produces 3-D laser cutters, brings it to the point – “Reality is Analog.“ Digital is only a way to best possibly represent our world and the reality we live in.

Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired magazine, a technology idealist who is known to “see digital technology as a force for ultimate good“, himself is aware of the multisensory fascination of analog. In the spirit of the Whole Earth Catalog, a collection of product reviews and (critical) essays from the 1960s and 1970s, Kelly started a blog called Cool Tools for which he reviewed one tool per day. However he kept feeling that there was a lack of experience, that “online simply couldn’t achieve“. Later, browsing through editions of the Whole Earth Catalog, he realized that the large format, rather mixed layout and the intuitive navigation through the book by simply turning the pages was the reason for the mesmerizing effect of the catalogs. Therefore in 2013 he published Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities in printed, approximately A3 format to “recapture that missing 5 percent that the web couldn’t do.“

David Sax, who received a copy of Kelly’s book, didn’t only make the experience himself, but observed that visiting friends immediately got sucked in when they opened the large book that got their attention by simply lying on the coffee table. The reason for this Sax didn’t credit to the book’s content but rather “quirky appeal” and “ sheer analog nature of the damn thing.” However Kelly added that “right now, Cool Tools had to be on paper. But in fifty years that may not be true.”

Source:
Revenge Of The Analog, David Sax, 2016




by Janina Schindler -

Skeuomorphism in digital music production programs | Part 2

In Part 1 of the topic Skeuomorphism in digital music production programs I talked about the little development of skeuomorphic design elements in common music production programs and their plugins for musicians and producers.

One of the effects of social and cultural change is that, for current generations, it is often no longer really a question of how the hardware works in detail, but simply of being able to get active in the selected area as quickly as possible and get started straight away. Music in pop culture often consists of digitally generated sounds, where the link to the original sound of an instrument is sometimes hardly recognizable anymore. What kind of access to the interface would be needed today that laymen or people without this presupposed access to analog music could use the interface intuitively, and does something like this already exist? What would an interface look like that is suitable for the complex demands of musicians and producers, but is oriented towards current design trends and new approaches?

For my research, it was also important to me to examine current music programs that may be approaching music production programs and their plug-ins with a modern design and a different, more up-to-date design. My focus is to look at other design approaches in this area and see what the possibilities are. I looked at the following examples from this field regardless of their exact function, intuition and interaction in the music industry. This was purely about new design approaches and visualizations in music production programs and plugins that stand out from the sea of similarity because of their visualization. 

Example 1 | Arcade by Output: Arcade is a sample playground with a Flat Design approach and simple interaction methods. It uses a Spotify- similar design for music production and looks much simpler than comparable music production programs for this function. 
Example 2 | Thermal by Output: Thermal is an interactive distortion plugin. It makes it easy to experiment and dial in new distortion sounds. A user-friendly experience is key to controlling the deeply powerful, multi-stage engine. A Flat Design approach is used for the modern and aesthetic distortion visualization, in combination with the skeuomorphic interaction tools.
Example 3 | Portal by Output: Portal is a granular FX Plugin. It also has a Flat Design Approach and rather simple interactions. The interaction tools are part skeuomorphic, part flat. It visualizes the granular sound like Thermal in a flat but in an interactive and modern manner.  

The examples shown above provide an insight into how music production programs and their plug-ins can also look different. At first glance, it seems that the interface is much easier to use due to the reduction of elements and the visualization of sounds in this way allows one to experience one’s own composition visually as well. It gives a glimpse into the possible future and modernization of music production programs and their plugins. 

Interfaces are getting flatter and flatter. New design approaches like the flat 3D effect of neumorphism go back to the skeuomorphic direction and give flat design a new direction. These very effects of “getting flatter” and “going back” lead to a loop in design where we constantly reflect old values and thereby come back to them in new ways. These effects require haptic feedback (at least in mobile devices), because the boundaries of an analog operable element blur in digital implementation. Haptic feedback means that forces, vibrations or movements are exerted on the user via the interface. This allows the user to haptically feel what he/she is seeing and doing through a digital interface. 

Through my previous blog posts, I’ve noticed the opportunities and possibilities of using the modern and intuitive design elements of neumorphism and flat design for interactions, especially in the field of music production. It would be a great experiment to see how this design approach affects music production programs and their plugins. By potentially combining this with haptic feedback or sound for controls and allowing the elements to be flatter, but still maintain their sublimity and realism for interactive use, could revolutionize the design of music production programs. At best, the results would be improving usability and an overall better user experience. By incorporating the new design trends and the simplification that comes with “going flatter“, it would also be possible to make programs more easily accessible to non-professionals or amateurs in the field.

Sources:

Arcade by Output: (01.02.21)
https://output.com/products/arcade?campaignid=2036570059&adgroupid=80431172068&adid=472447628051&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=2036570059&keyword=%2Boutput%20%2Barcade&gclid=Cj0KCQiA6t6ABhDMARIsAONIYyx2swONrHT7qQ5-PP5AgHvZrogRn3XVtXDld68H3MfvJCBxZk8mPG4aAlh9EALw_wcB

Portal by Output: (01.02.21)
https://output.com/products/portal

Thermal by Output: (01.02.21)
https://output.com/products/thermal

Obscurium: (01.02.21)
https://sugar-bytes.de/de/obscurium

by Marcelino Zus -

Analog / Digital – Tricks & Film

Nowadays the movies are full of animations, never mind if it’s a kids movie or a sci-fi blockbuster.

In the fully animated movie Monsters, Inc., released in 2001, all the figures, landscapes and effects were digitally created on the computer. The success of the movie came not only because of the funny story, but was also due to the incredibly high details the characters and the whole “set” showed. The monster Sullivan, for example, was rendered with a fur containing 2.3 million hairs!

Now, twenty years later, the possibilities to trick the audiences of course have increased. For movie studios it’s easy to put real actors into completely animated sceneries. Due to the increase in computing power everybody who’s capable of using a smartphone can easily morph their self portraits into younger or older versions of themselves. With some experience you should even be able to produce deepfake videos – a technique where mostly (famous) peoples’ faces are mapped onto faces in real videos or images. Taking the fact that these deepfakes, generated with help of machine learning and artificial intelligence, seem extremely realistic, the method of deepfake should be handled with care even though really funny things are possible.

Besides highly detailed digital effects, 3D-animations and renderings connecting reality and imagination on a level never reached before, all the movies we watch still make use of pretty easy tricks. Simple cuts and montage do not only create concise coherence but also create specific atmospheres and evoke emotions in the audience.

These methods are nothing new and neither connected to digital processes nor analog techniques – actually they have been used since the very early beginnings of film and movies in the early 20th century.

One of the pioneers of film was Georges Méliès, a French magician and manager-director of the Théâtre Robert-Houdin. Inspired by the Lumiere brothers’ performance of early motion pictures showing real life scenes, Méliès started to film scenes and experimented with the matter, which lead him to develop camera techniques such as stop-motion, slow-motion, superimposition or double exposure.

In a glass studio he built in the surroundings of Paris, Georges Méliès started to create theatrical sceneries, which in combination with film and camera made fictional narratives possible, like his most famous film Le Voyage dans la Lune from 1902. This movie showed the story of a handful of astronomers taking an adventurous journey to the moon via a cannon capsule and returning back to earth and thus can be seen as the first science fiction movie.

However as movies became more and more popular, big commercial film studios entered the market and forced Méliès out of business. In 1923 Georges Méliès burnt his entire life’s work with over 500 films, featuring partially hand colored movies, combining magic tricks, theatrical stage props and a variety of fantastic stories.

Luckily some (master) copies of his films survived around the globe and the genius of Méliès was rediscovered and the importance of his work was acknowledged by critics in the 1930s.

Almost one century after its first release, a colored copy of Méliès’ master piece was restored by Lobster Films. Between 1999 and 2010, up to date digital tools were used to carefully refurbish each of the 13,375 frames of the film, for which missing frames – lost or too damaged – have been taken from the black and white version and colored afterwards.

Taking into account that this movie reel was lost for decades, the digitally restored version partially resembles a hi-resolution short film, using numerous effects to make it look like it’s 100 years old.

Eventually Méliès’ Le Voyage Dans La Lune is a great example for what effects and analog techniques have been used from the beginning of film til nowadays as well as the resilience of analog media. Additionally the carefully restored version shows the possibilties of digital editing and it’s depth and accuracy.

Sources

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Monster_AG
https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/James_P._Sullivan?file=Profile_-_Sully.jpeg
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georges-Melies
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/099870-000-A/das-geheimnis-georges-melies/
https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/041651-000-A/die-reise-zum-mond/

by Marcelino Zus -

Analog / Digital – Audio

Besides the theoretical or rather philosophical differentiation of analog and digital features, the media we use today, from audio, video, over photography to print, offers more practical explanations.

Speaking of analog and digital in the field of audio, from recording to playback, the differentiation only concerns the features of the audio signal. The signal, either analog or digital, will at least need an analog device for output – e.g. analog speakers resembling the audio signal into acoustic sound waves.

However the audio signal can be either an analog or digital model of a real (recorded) sound wave but also a model for a real sound wave – playing a string of an electric guitar creates an analog audio signal that runs through a cable and after being amplified will result in sound waves created by the vibrating membranes of the speaker. Similiar like this the audio signal can also be created digitally, e.g. by using a midi-keyboard.

Technical charecteristics
On the one side, for analog audio, soundwaves are converted to an electromagnetic signal that’s stored as data on a magnetic tape. The sound quality or the amount of information that can be stored on the recording tape refers to the tape width and tape speed.

On the other hand digital audio uses so called pulse code modulation or PCM which is the primary method to store digital information. This method creates a model of sound waves by „storing a sequence of numerical values that represent the amplitude or intensity at various points along the wave“, referred to as samples. The two crucial factors for sound quality in digital audio is bit-depth, through wich the amount of possible values is defined and the sample rate defined in kHz.

Advantages and disadvantages
The major disadvantage of digital audio is that there will always be a finite amount of samples. Even if you raise the bit depth and sample rate you will never be able to resemble anything between two samples or values. As analog audio with the electromagnetic signal resembles the sound waves more naturally it can „catch infinitesimally small variations in amplitude“ and thus smoothly fill the gap that would be between two digital samples.

However analog audio signals will always be featuring a certain ground noise coming from the recording components. Even if this noise floor is very low on tape, it will increase by running through more analog components like cables, analog effects or (pre-)amplifiers and can become a major distracting noise. In digital audio the noise floor of a 24-bit sound file is -144 dB which is practically no noise, though it still can add up running through analog components (in playback).

Besides the quality of information stored on analog media or digital sound files there’s more practical features that add on the advantages of digital audio.

Firstly, magnetic tapes can not only be physically damaged or destroyed but stored information will be deleted immediately when approaching them with a magnet.

Digital files on the other hand are nowadays immune to magnetic fields and additionally from one digital sound recording infinete copies can be made without losing information in contrast to tapes that will lose sound quality from copy to copy. Thus digital audio files can be easily reproduced and distributed enormously fast around the globe without the needs of physical storage.

Acoustic Features
The acoustic features of analog and digital audio signals are subtile and often highly subjective but there are obvious differences. First of all, in this discussion you will very often hear that audio coming from an analog source (tape, vinyl) has something like a more warm and soft sound, whereas digital signals coming from digital media (CD, wav or mp3 files passing the sound card) feature a rather cold and harsh sound. Depending on how trained your ears are you will most certainly hear some differences like these when comparing the same audio played via different media.

However the acoustic features are rather connected to the nature of the playback device and nature of the media (vinyl = analog, CD = digital) than to how the acoustic signal was originally recorded. Because still it is possible to record and mix a song with analog equipment and put it on CD (after digitalisation) and of course digitally recorded sound can for example also be reproduced on vinyl after converting the signal into grooves cut into vinyl (a process that’s also necessary when converting audio signals from analog tape for vinyl).

Summing it up analog and digital sound recording, audio signals, reproduction and playback are simply different ways to model and resemble sound waves. Both have different physical and technical features resulting in more or less different acoustic perception of basically the same sound – call it the analog charme and warmth due to infinite small intersecting vibrations or the digital precision and sharpness due to the isolated samples.

The question is not which one is better in general, but which one suits your purpose best.

Sources:
ANALOG AUDIO vs DIGITAL AUDIO: The REAL Difference
Analog vs. Digital As Fast As Possible
Analogue vs Digital – Episode 9 | The Mastering Show Podcast

by Güney Güner -

Inclusive Interaction Design for the Elderly (1)

How does existing accessibility elements in UI/UX design impact digital usage by elderly and how can they be improved?

Digital interaction is a big part of our daily lives now. The rapid changes in this digital world have both advantages and disadvantages. Following trends and adapting to new technologies is getting harder by the day, especially for the elderly. With increasing senior population especially in the developed world and fast paced changes in technology isolation is imminent. Older generations are excluded from so many developments that change our lives for the better. With the hit of a pandemic it became much more apparent how online and digital technologies can change so much and help us in our lives. And specifically in this example senior citizens should be the ones who are able to take advantage of these developments and tools. But they mostly can’t because of several different reasons like hardships regarding usability, learning issues, trust issues, all in all not being able to adapt to these changes.

There are existing accessibility options embedded in the interfaces we use daily, most of them being OS based. How do these solutions compare to each other, how often are they used and by whom? Universal design principles are key to these elements and they must be as accessible as possible by the user. If these features are hidden in the interface then it defies the purpose.

This whole experience can be improved with better guidelines for designers and adding empathy into the equation. Can every app or appliance be adapted to the seniors through this method?

I’ve chosen this topic mainly because I’m highly interested in inclusive design and my motto would be “design for all”. Besides that, I also have co-written a paper on a similar matter which broadened my perspective for the topic and provided me with the necessary basis for a starting point.

Sources:

  • https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/02/designing-digital-technology-for-the- elderly/
  • https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/ui-design-for-older-adults
  •  https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-for-senior-citizens/
  • https://uxplanet.org/accessible-design-designing-for-the-elderly-41704a375b5d
  • https://uxplanet.org/ux-accessibility-for-elderly-12-principles-9708289b6f78
  • “User interface based on natural interaction design for seniors”
  • https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/learn-to-create-accessible-websites-with-the-principles-of-universal-design
  • https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/accessibility-intro/
  • https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/understand-the-social-needs-for-accessibility-in-ux-design
by Marcelino Zus -

Analog / Digital – a short introduction

The very early differentiation of analog and digital media came up with the development of the first computers and cybernetic approaches in the 1940s and since then became a major question in media theory. Especially with the invention of CDs in 1982 the difference between the digital and analog sound medium (vinyl records vs. CDs), practically displayed the divergence of the back then old and the new media and their featured characteristics. The question was not only if the medium carried digital or analog information, but also how the information was recorded (again either digital or analog) were indicators for the quality of the medium. In the specific example CDs have been said to have a more cold, but brilliant sound, while vinyl records purvey a much warmer and thus charming sound.

However, the core difference between analog and digital media seems to be determined via their representational qualities. While the (new) digital media are based on a binary system (0 & 1 = yes & no) leaving no space for coincidence or mistakes, analog media and their representation of information are perceivd as rather blurred, distorted and loss-making, hence the variety of their physical entities.

Furthermore one can sum it up that physical analog media are real things carrying information, while the digital counterpart acts in a hyper-real, virtual space, trying to simulate reality.

Another differentiation of various types of media after Heinz Pürer, extended by Marcus Burkhart also seems important for a contemprary view and disctinction of analog and digital media:

a) Primary Media
Media of human elementary contact, i.e. language, mimic, gestures used by humans to communicate directly.

b) Secondary Media
A part of the interacting parties uses technical tools to communicate. These tools can be smokesigns, but also newspapers, books and posters.

c) Tertiary Media
Both of the communicating parties use technical tools to send and receive information, e.g. telecommunication, TV, radio or computer.

d) Quarternary Media
Besides telecommunicative tools, both, sender and receiver need to have an internet connection. Unlike „classic“ media, there is no clear sender and receiver, communication happens interactive.

Keeping this differentiations in mind, new and interactive media are using electronic devices which don’t simply carry digital information virtually between human senders and receivers. The medium itself can be receiving and storing information and likewise not only forward this information but also artificially generate own contents based on the information supplied.

On the other side, analog media is defined by physical entities, that carry information. This kind of media has to be actively filled with information by the sender and actively received by the sender, using (various) human senses.

Analog vs. digital

With an extraordinary expansion of digital media within the last decade(s) analog media has often been said to lose it’s relevance and for some parts will be completely replaced by digital media.

While obviously new digital alternatives like online newspapers or music streaming services are conquering with „traditional“ media like printed news or vinyl records, analog media are defending their position and for some parts taking back lost shares of the market. Not only sales of vinyl records have been rising in the last decade, but also analog board games, real notebooks and printed books are getting more and more popular (again).

Even in the offices of new technological enterprises like Google, Facebook, or Adobe the value of analog design processes, like sketching and scribbling with pen and paper is highly appreaciated. Digital creators are aware that at some stages of the creative process analog approaches are way more effective to generate usable output then immediately starting to design on screen.

Besides that, the digital world needs the real world to represent it’s ideas and information. As Michael Meyer stated in 2013, the digital world is full of (analog) analogies. Just like the desktop of your computer is designed like your real desktop, featuring directories to store files and a trashcan to put in things you don’t use no more.

Sources

Analog/Digital – Opposition oder Kontinuum?, Jens Schröter, Alexander Böhnke (Hrsg.), 2004
Die Rache Des Analogen, David Sax, 2016
https://medienkindergarten.wien/medienpaedagogik/infothek/der-medienbegriff/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grmZmibek70