Geoffrey Dorne

Contactez-moi :
GeoffreyDorne@gmail.com
Designer graphique & numérique par formation, fondateur de sa société indépendante de design et chercheur par la pratique, Geoffrey Dorne est diplômé de l’École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs de Paris (Ensad) en 2009.
Concrètement :
Travaillant le numérique et l’imprimé sur des projets pour la Croix Rouge, la fondation Mozilla, Water Right Makers, la fondation Wikimedia, le Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique, des projets culturels pour Libération, la CNIL, diverses laboratoires de recherche, la Fonderie (l’agence numérique d’Île-de-France), ou encore les éditions Diateino, Geoffrey attache un intérêt particulier aux concepts, aux métaphores et à l’utilisateur.

How can media producers frame the use of their application ?

Media producers work on two different things : the user’s experience (UX), and the users’ interface (UI). To shape the user’s experience (UX), producers have to imagine what type of emotion, thoughts, reactions they want their users to have, from the very beginning until the end of their experience on the digital platform. They can then achieve those effects and truly make it come to life through sensory elements : images, colors, shapes, sounds, and even physical experiences. Part of what shapes this user’s experience (UX) is the user’s interface (UI). This will be the design of the digital platform in itself : how it is organized, its display, the icons and signs that are used… It is thus a part of the UX, but the UX goes beyond this. Working on the UX/UI thus enables media producers to define a frame, a specific use of their application, through physical constraints that are both explicit and implicit.

To what extent does Instagram control and limit artistic customization ?

Instagram uses a similar format for everything : it is composed of picture and captions, and nothing more can really be added -- even if it has recently developed new tools such as “stories.” However, any type of platform, be it online or in real life, imposes constraints on artists : exhibitions, art galleries, cinema screens or stages are spaces that all have specific types of constraints. Moreover, on these platforms as well as on Instagram, one could argue that constraints can actually fuel artistic creation : it is by trying to push boundaries back that artists become creative. On Instagram, they can for instance renew the codes of the platform by posting videos, using filters, posting images in black and white, writing a text in the space dedicated to images…

Why would artists choose to use a platform that is constraining rather than design a platform that would guarantee them total freedom ?

Simply because artists’ main goal is very often to reach a maximum amount of people, to showcase their art. Instagram, with its tremendous amount of users, seems to be the perfect place to do that, even if it is a bit constraining.

Is there a correlation between the extent to which a platform is restrictive and the amount of users of one platforms ? Do restrictive platforms tend to attract more followers ?

Having a restrictive platform reassures any type of users, and can therefore become very popular. This might explain why artists often choose them : they eventually enable them to become recognized and express themselves as artists, even if they are not the easiest to customize in the beginning. However, there is a balance to be found : platforms that are too restrictive simply risk to be abandoned… That is why Instagram constantly seeks to renew itself : it recently enabled artists to access rectangular format, it created ‘stories’ so that users could share their experience in real time, and even enable direct monetisation, which attracted even more artists who were seeking to live of their work.

What others platforms could be alternative options to Instagram ?

Mastodon is a platform that is less constraining, but has less users, and thus a lower audience - it might therefore not be what artists are really looking for. Parson is a more abstract platform and necessitates the user to code. It is also smaller than Instagram. Small platforms could however be interesting if they concern one specific topic or area of interest : they could be a sort of “niche” for artists to explore rarer thematics or creative techniques.