John Maeda joins the MIT Media Lab

John Maeda’s arrival at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1996 marked a pivotal moment in the intersection of technology, design and art. As the founder of the Aesthetics + Computation Group (ACG), an evolution of Visible Language Workshop, Maeda continued the exploration of how computation could enhance graphic design, initiated by Muriel Cooper in 1975. Under Maeda’s leadership, the ACG scrutinized the possibilities of code as a medium for expression, laying the groundwork for the development of innovative tools like Processing. Collaborators Ben Fry and Casey Reas, inspired by Maeda’s vision, began crafting Processing in 2001 as a simplified environment for coding, bridging the gap between programming and design. This endeavor continues to greatly impact the broader culture today, as the Processing Foundation and Lauren Lee McCarthy would go on to develop p5.js.