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Computer coding, also known as programming, allows you to give computers instructions to make them do things, from display content on a webpage to run entire games and applications. Data is a collection of values that convey information, whether those values are numbers, text, or many, many other things. You might think that both of these are more about logic and numbers than creativity, so let's take a look at how working with data and writing computer code can be creative, and how we might use digital creativity tools and approaches with these.
Digital creativity is often about communication: how we communicate messages with other people by creating digital (or physical) outputs. Communicating your data with other people (and yourself) is an important skill that allows your data to have relevance to others. Digital creativity tools can be used to create forms of data visualisation, which refers to a range of methods you can use to communicate data by presenting it in different ways.
Graphs and charts are common data visualisations that we're used to, but data visualisation can go far beyond these as well. Our data visualisation page offers some guidance around the tools and techniques you can use for data visualisation, and is a useful starting point if you're new to finding ways to communicate data:
Many data visualisation tools create 2D images or diagrams to present data, but there are many ways you can get more creative with the format of a data visualisation. You might create a 3D model, either to display digitally or print using a 3D printer, to represent your data (for example, are there any particular patterns or changes in your data that could be shown in three dimensions?). You could make a video or a soundscape or even a game that allows people to experience your data in a new way, especially if one of the variables in your data is time. Exploring the other pages on this guide might give you inspiration for how you could communicate your data with others beyond a traditional graph or image.
Coding has traditionally been seen as separate from creativity to many people, but this is not the case. There's a whole range of ways in which coding can be creative and be part of creative work:
Coding languages like Processing and p5.js (the JavaScript version of Processing) are made with artists and designers in mind, meaning they are particularly suited to working in a creative way. Other coding languages like JavaScript and Python have many libraries that can bring in creative functionality from text generation to game and image development.
If you're completely new to computer coding, don't worry! There are plenty of guides and courses you can use to learn to code. Typically you will start learning a particular coding language and through this process you'll learn key concepts in coding whilst starting to make things.
Our Coding Practical Guide is a good place to start, with guidance on key terminology and how to choose which coding language to learn, along with resources and learning suggestions for a range of coding languages:
As creative coding can result in a range of outputs, if you want to get creative with coding, you might want to check out some of our guides to the sorts of outputs you might want to make:
Many coding languages can be used to create games and other creative outputs - here's some that we have resources on:
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