Designers and Animators of the World, Rejoice: GIF's turn 25!

Remember back in the days of Netscape Navigator; the days when anyone with a propensity for black backgrounds and neon green text could make a geocities page? Such pages weren't complete without at least one GIF, though usually those tiny moving graphics like waving USA flags or burning flames made up entire border designs. You may have forgotten about GIFs once we crossed the web 2.0 threshold, but a lot of designers didn't--and thank Jevoha: They've taken the heretofore hideous format and turned into something surprisingly great.

The first GIF appeared in all its pixelated glory in 1987 (!) and to celebrate it 25th anniversary, PBS made a video that tracks the history of the form with a nod to four web wunderkinds who have transformed those little moments of Internet-browsing candy for a contemporary audience. First though, we should probably get one thing straight (as our design compatriots here tell us): it's pronounced Jiff, like the peanut butter, not GIF with a hard G. Yeah, we've been saying it wrong for two decades too. If you're unfamiliar with the form of micro-animation, Patrick Davison of MemeFactory defines it as "an image that's been encoded using the graphics interchange format, where it has multiple frames encoded into a single image file and a web browser or other piece of software will play those images back in animated sequence automatically."

But instead of animating You've Got Mail logos, the new crop of GIF wizards are applying the technology to photo-collages, fashion editorials and scenes from movies.

Our personal favorite are Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg's Cinemagraphs, which remind us of those magical moving pictures in the newspapers from Harry Potter. Beck and Burg describe their work as "the evolution of photography." It's also the most elegant and sophisticated we've seen from GIF-makers so far. Still, GIFs as a serious art form something of a brand new phenomenon. "It's too new," Tumblr's Topher Chris says. "I love being a part of this at a time when we're just figuring it out."

Want to learn how to make your own GIFs? Yes. Yes you do. Enroll in one of 3rd Ward's classes in Multimedia or Web Design.

Visual Science // An Animated Look At The Divided Brain

Today we bring you another great video from RSA Animate, the same folks that turned Sir Ken Robinson's "Changing Education Paradigms" into a mind-blowing animation. This time they've taken up their pens to illustrate "The Divided Brain," a lecture by psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist, author of The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World.

McGilchrist explores how the common perception of the brain being divided into to halves, with the left handling logic, reason and language and the right taking care of emotion, visual imagery and creativity, doesn't tell the whole story. The brain is indeed "profoundly divided," he says, and has become more so as humans have evolved, but the major difference between the two hemispheres is the right's capacity for broad sustainable awareness and the left's narrow focus and attention to detail, both of which are needed for reason and imagination.

An imbalance between these two hemispheres, with the left's "what" taking precedence over the right's "how", can be found at the root many problems in contemporary society, McGilchrist says, driving things home with a killer Einstein quote.

Hit play and give both sides of your brain a little exercise:

-- John Ruscher

WHEELS UP // London Designer Katy Beveridge's Zoetrope Bicycle Animations

We couldn't resist sharing this video, as it combines so many things that we love: bikes, ingenuity, design, DIY craftwork and more. For a dissertation project at the renowned Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London designer and illustrator Katy Beveridge created some amazing zoetrope animations mounted on bike wheels.

As the wheels spin, the images come to life, and Beveridge's animations become more complex and eye-popping as the video progresses. "This is a piece created to question whether it was possible to film animation in realtime," Beveridge says in her description of the video. She also refers to animators who have created similar work, such as Jim Le Fevre and Tim Wheatley. And, as if the visuals weren't awesome enough, the soundtrack remixes bike sounds from the filming of the video.

So who's gonna be the first person to try this with a 3rd Ward ride?

-- John Ruscher

WATCH THIS NOW // An Animated Look At Education And Creativity

As backers of all creative endeavors, we feel obligated to point you in the direction of this speech by world-renowned education advisor Sir Ken Robinson. It's titled "Changing Education Paradigms," and while it centers mainly around problems in modern education, it's a must-see for anyone interested in creativity, the way we think and how these things relate to the world in which we live.

And, on top of Robinson's amazing insights, the United Kingdom's RSA Animate put together a truly mind-blowing animation to illustrate the entire thing.

Grab a snack, make yourself comfortable, put on those headphones and just watch this video. Think of it as 12 stimulating and inspiring minutes that'll make up for all the unstimulating, uninspiring time spent scrolling through your Facebook feed or playing Angry Birds. A true must watch:

-- John Ruscher

INNOVATOR RETROSPECTIVE // Renowned Artist Al Jarnow Keeps It Moving

Jarnow; 1975 -- Courtesy: The Numero Group

Chances are you didn't know it, but if you grew up in the 80's and were reared on 3-2-1 Contact and Sesame Street, then you grew up with Al Jarnow. A multimedia artist who's animated shorts became archetypal on public television, Jarnow helped define an aesthetic that nostalgists now pine over.

Though for Jarnow, his career has always been about motion--from early panoramic paintings and public TV animations to short films and software development.  We consider ourselves serious appreciators of Jarnow's work and recently caught up with him in an effort to (re)introduce you:

"To me it's always been about moving forward," he says. "I've worked with everything from 16 millimeter film to digital. It's all been a progression."

Jarnow claims art is something he's always done. "My parents thought I would be a lawyer, but on some level, I knew I'd be an artist." In the early '70s, he was putting that conviction into practice, painting landscapes of beach and cityscapes. "The paintings show the movement of time and light," he says. "And I always go back to the beach. I just found this great blank canvas in the beach."

POW 2 - gouache. 9" x 12", 1971

During the '70s, Jarnow also got his big break doing the shorts for public television. "That allowed me to get an education," he says.  

Here's one from 3-2-1 Contact you may remember:

Eventually, he created the experimental short film "Cubits":

Along with a series of "Splits," where he'd use snapshots and Xeroxes to create paintings with a perpetual, paneled feel:

One Hour Photo--gouache on Xerox transfer, 10" x 25", 1982

In 2009, Al's filmmaking got a boost when soul-revival label The Numero Group released Celestial Navigations. a DVD compilation of Jarnow's early work for public TV along with some of his more experimental short films. By then though, Jarnow had moved on to software and "beach sculptures." Using found beach materials, the sculptures reflect a primitive beauty that serve as a direct contrast to the patterns, games, puzzles and museum kiosks which inhabited his simultaneous focus on software. Though to Jarnow, this is all just part of his evolution. Most recently, he returned to film to work on a video with OK Go that's now destined for Sesame Street.

"I can't say why I've made a living at this while other artists haven't been able to," he says. "If I may be immodest, it's talent. But it's also continuous exploration. I tried writing for a bit, but that's best left to my son [the Brooklyn-based Jesse Jarnow]. There was a time when I thought I'd have to drive a cab, but I don't think I'd like that very much. I've been lucky that I've been able to make a living doing art, but I'd do art either way." 

Keep in tune with all of the mind-blowing work Jarnow continues to produce right here.

 --Layla Schlack