An inquiry on flow metaphor in the context of digital creativity

This thesis investigates a metaphor, flow in terms of interpreting concepts, design and digital creativity. The thresholds of change may be defined more clearly by the representational property of the flows that problematize the undetermined so that dynamic imagery and possibilities can be conceptualized by becoming and transitioning. This study focuses on the qualitative features and conceptual possibilities of forms by breaking down the threshold barrier between virtual and reality, as flows represent the occurrences. Conceptualizations enable dialogue of design, imagination, visualization and perception process with other disciplines. In this context, this thesis is about the representation of flow in computer environment by the means of associating conceptual narratives, creativity and objectivity in design and algorithms. In this work, firstly, concepts and theories on flow are elaborated. Interpretation of flows, ways of thinking, explorations, networks, concepts derived from flow such as complexity, emergence, multiplicity, smooth and striated spaces and discussions on fuzzy boundaries are defined. The natural processes observed in the context of changing physical states such as energy, magnetism and the mass movements of flocks or communities are described by flow behaviours. Energy flows and equilibrium state are identified by defined or unexpected behaviours of the particles with the thermodynamics definitions triggering the creativity and physics in the context of formation and intellectual debates. In the context of design, the variability of form, the interpretations of design according to visual and relational point of view, the changes in spatial scales, flow dynamics, shaping of flow as energy, boundary definitions, permeable boundaries and points of view on the definition of spaces by flow lines are presented. In the third chapter, computability of flow concepts is mentioned in the context of discoveries at the intersection of technology and design. By referring to animated forms and simulating the complexity, the interpretation of the motion perception on a single square in the art with the changes of the motion sequences and visual illusions in algorithmic design are discussed. Theories that computational methods are used to describe observable flows, interpretations of mathematical explanation of flow and methods based on the working principles of simulation programs are expressed. An overview of transformational properties that the algorithmic logic uses in the representation of natural processes is pointed out and examples of the productivity of these variables are given. In parallel with the developments in technology, representations of flow in artworks and evaluations on creative experiences are presented. Interpretation of flow concepts as metaphors and definitions together with flow conditions in the real sense lead to a process in which design possibilities are dynamically processed. Technology in a continuous regulation and repetition also produces its own nature and phenomena in its own developmental process. This phenomenological structure of the digital leads design to new perspectives which may be an intertwined way to bring together virtual and actual in a digital reality. The repertoire of scientific knowledge requires a new repertoire of knowledge production analysis that reconfigures process, experimentation and observation. In the fourth chapter, abstract digital flow experiments are presented with flow concepts to investigate the potential of conceptual and phenomenological properties of the flow. The flow metaphor of the production processes of algorithms and simulations produced in the digital environment were investigated in order to base a behavioural basis on how to visualize a non-mechanical motion in the digital environment during the design processes. The experiments were carried out to analyze algorithmic concepts and abstractions with animated series to investigate the potential of algorithms. Analyzes on motion and transformation depending on time were made to explore the productivity of concepts diversified by the adaptive nature of computation. As a result, the predefined processes of design, interpretation and heuristic attempts do not happen in a completely fixed or structured world. Within the productivity of algorithms, the design process may produce unexpected processes and outcomes. Unlike traditional design, the uncertainty-driven concepts can lead to the creation of new ways of thinking and evaluations in algorithmic design. Algorithmic logic feeds on the discoveries and dialogue with other disciplines within the context of virtualization so that expansion of the realizations towards the unexpected configurational transformations represented by the computing environment can improve the creativity of the designers.