- Due Jan 31
- Turn in a link to your sketch (or upload the files to run it) to Canvas
- Read this short piece on the science of annoyance
- Then make the most annoying thing you possibly can in
p5.js - Install Visual Studio Code
To get inspired, please read this short piece from NPR reporter Joe Palca, who wrote an entire book about the science of being annoyed!
Want more? You can also read this interview with Palca by the American Psychological Association and read the first chapter of the book (scroll down to find it).
Using p5.js and either the online editor or working locally, your task this week is to make the most absolutely annoying thing you possibly can. You're welcome to use visual elements, sound, interactivity, and/or anything else you can think of. That's it!
NOTE! If you have sensitivity to flashing lights or other concerns, please let me know and we'll ask folks to avoid them in their projects
We will "enjoy" your projects together next week, then vote on which ones are the most annoying in a variety of categories 🏆
Annoyance inspiration...
- The Most Unwanted Song by Dave Soldier and Komar & Melamid (more info)
- Simone Giertz's "shitty robots" inclusing the soup robot, lipstick robot, and the popcorn robot made in collaboration with Adam Savage (see a tour of her studio/laboratory here)
- Feross Aboukhadijeh's The Annoying Site
- MattW's collection of purposefully bad user interfaces, inspired by this excellent subreddit
- Trackball form input
- Lots more horrible UI from BoredPanda
(A lot of these examples are related to user interfaces, but your project doesn't have to be interactive at all! It could run on its own or be in any other format.)
The online editor is a wonderful tool, but you've probably already bumped into its limitations. Working offline makes things faster, easier, and you can work in places with no internet! There are lots of ways to write Javascript offline, but for this semester we'll be using Visual Studio Code. It's free, and will allow us to install some really helpful tools for writing p5.js. If you have another workflow you like better, that's great! I'll just ask that you try VS Code first and see how you like it.
Please download and install Visual Studio Code, then open it and make sure everything works. No need to install any extensions – we'll do that together next week.