Hello, I'm Devlin!
I am a Multimedia Designer and Artist based in Toronto, Canada.
I have experience in graphic, interaction, and web design and am
interested in the wonderful and exciting world of New Media art
and education.
I currently work as a Creative Technologist at Toronto
Metropolitan University in the
Design Fabrication Zone
where I provide training, run workshops, and facilitate digital
fabrication for start-ups and artists.
If you like what you see, have questions, or just
want to chat feel free to reach me by email or socials:
email:
dev.macpherson@gmail.com
instagram:
@devlindfm
linkedin:
Devlin Macpherson
Installations
I Can't Focus When You're Watching Me (ICFWYWM)
ICFWYWM is an interactive drawing machine installation. It
consists of a two axis drawing plotter driven by an Arduino
microcontroller. A continuous sheet of paper is fed from a box,
through the machine, and off the other end.
This piece explores themes of observation, interference and the
unavoidable influence of the audience. While unobserved, the
machine completes a repetitive task of drawing rows of squares
across a continuous feed of printer paper. This is interrupted
when it senses it is being observed - when the livestream
website is accessed (for virtual showings), or a face is
detected on its camera (for in person showings). It scribbles
over its meticulous work until it is alone again. The more
someone interferes, observes and participates, the more it
diverges from its original task.
Meaningful and obvious influence by the audience is incredibly
important for interactive works, and it was a joy to observe
people discover this piece, play with it, and learn how it
responds to their simple action of observation.
Flux
As part of my work at Devicist Design Works, We designed and built a 40-foot kinetic permanent installation for Shopify's Offices in Toronto. Metallic prisms are rotated in coordinated patterns to create rolling waves of refracted light. I designed the form and movement patterns, and built the system controlling the stepper motors that drive the installation.
Illuminated Brain
While working at Devicist, I designed the structure, light patterns, and interaction of a hub of LED matrix panels inside a model brain. It was produced in collaboration with Globacore Interactive for an exhibit at CES 2023. The biggest challenge was creating a pipeline for pattern generation on a 3D dimensional LED surface. I developed a multi-step process in Touchdesigner to convert video frames into pixel data that was then interpreted by the Arduino driving the LED matrices.
Multimedia Projects
Light Clock
A layered functional sculpture installed in my workspace. Three rings of light indicate the second, minute, and hour hands of a clock, also displaying intricate, beautiful light patterns.
Contours
A book I made with my good friend Noah Caccamo, a colleague in the New Media program at Toronto Metropolitan University. It's a connect-the-dots book of topographic maps. We wrote some custom code using blob detection and computer vision to interpret height map data into contour lines, and then into labelled points that you can trace.
Pen Plotter Study
During my undergraduate thesis project, I was figuring out how to best utilize the pen plotter I had built. I grew to love watching it work, and to see its beautifully imperfect drawings. Here are a few of my artworks from this period of exploration.
Graphic Design
TYPE
The logo and visual identity for the Toronto Youth Percussion Ensemble. Combining the iconic CN Tower + Skydome silhouette with drum and mallet icons, I aimed to capture the playful nature of a percussion ensemble.
Gahu Project
I incorporated iconography from traditional Ghanaian percussion instruments to represent a community music initiative in the Waterloo region. I also provided video documentation and promotional materials.
Devicist
The branding of an interactive installation design firm. This involved logos, motion graphics, video, and web design. The full website can be found at devicist.com
