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BACKGROUND INFO:

Maeda was born in 1966, in Seattle, Washington. He started attending MIT in 1988, recieving both his BS and MS degrees. Maeda later attended Tsukuba University Institute of Art and Design in Japan in 1992, recieving his PhD in design. Now at age 39, Maeda resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he has been working as a professor at MIT since 1996.

HIS WORK:

John Maeda is an amazing graphic designer, artist, and computer scientist. His early work redefined the use of technology as a tool for expression by combining skilled computer programs with a sensitivite approach to traditional artistic concerns. This work had a big part in the interactive graphics that we see on the Internet today.

Maeda also initiated the Design By Numbers project. A project that globally initiated the means to teach computer programming to visual artists through a freely available, custom software system that he designed himself. Not content with using "pre-packaged" software, Maeda more often than not writes his own compact codes to create his work.

By doing so, Maeda has also reinvented the use of the computer for every person, of all age and skill level, to be able to create art. He views the computer not as a replacement for the traditional brush and paint, but as an artistic medium all of its own. His mission is to make technology more human. Currently working at the MIT Media Laboratroy, Maeda is currently researching the initiative to "redesign technology" so that it consistently makes sense, is fun, and keeps us coming back for more.

When describing his own style Maeda says, "I try to keep changing. I don't like to be labeled as a certain style, so I continue to destroy everthing I did. Maybe every few months. My wife is the reason why, she always says, doesn't that look the same? She's the pressure that keeps me changing."

As reported by fastcompany.com Maeda is also changing the way MIT's Media Lab thinks about thechnology. In what Maeda calls "simplicity" his vision is to rewind "overfeaturized" tech tools and make them seamless and intuitive. The place where this vision will find it's place is the web in which the browser could become a global hub for editing, annotating, and sharing digital media. Maeda believes that one day this will fuel a vast, online marketplace for the creative arts. It's all part of Maeda's ultimate mission: to put the soul of the artist into the science of digital design.

All information gathered from MAEDASTUDIO and it's featured links.
(links to Maeda's Blog and his work at MIT are also available at this site.)