.
The paths that Caroline Speridião was tracing left the computer screen. Since she was five years old, she was already playing with Photoshop and learning HTML with her designer mother, Marimilte Aparecida. Grew up navigating web design. It’s this story that she remembered on her first plane trip to Fortaleza, the city where she went to receive the Latin American Design Award, one of the most important recognitions in the design field in Latin America, which selects the best graphic and visual creations produced by students and professionals throughout the year.
Caroline, 24, from São Paulo, and a student at the School of Architecture and Urbanism at USP, was ranked first in the Students – Experimental Digital Design category for her TCC (Course Final Paper) deriva~telar . “The initiative to submit my project came from a very personal reason. I wanted to share the discussions, ideas, and history of web design because, in fact, I grew up in this digital context,” she says. “But I was realizing that it was quite complicated to find sources. To develop this work, I relied on the guidance of the professor and artist Giselle Beiguelman, who lived through and witnessed the emergence of the web in Brazil, creating several works from the Net Art movement and its exponents. With this repertoire, she was opening up a new horizon for me.”
Caroline decided to create the website deriva~telar . “It is an experimental project that wanders between the spaces of practical and theoretical design, seeking to understand and discuss the history of digital culture and its implications in web design,” she explains. Caroline presents, in a straightforward language, the past of digital culture. It can entertain, inform, and connect with users. It brings, for example, information such as the birth of the world’s first electronic magazine, World Magazine. “This magazine used digital resources to create stories, games, interviews, and much more, generating unique interaction experiences for each published content.”
The Latin American Design Awards ceremony was held on September 11, at José de Alencar Theater, in Fortaleza. About 400 works were recognized and about 100 trophies awarded Brazilian participants. “I was very moved. My mother accompanied me on the trip; my father, José, and my brother, Andrei, who also graduated at School of Architecture and Urbanism at USP and, guided by Beiguelman, received international awards in design, watched the ceremony on YouTube.”
Caroline believes that the award and her education at her School are opening new horizons. “The experience of navigating through the history of web design is even difficult to quantify in time. But it seems like moments to me because it’s a fun topic, it piques curiosity.”
.
Caroline’s next trip will be in a month. She is going to visit her brother and sister-in-law in California, in the United States. And take the opportunity to interview design researchers in California, seeking information for her website. “I will go to museums that engage with the research theme deriva~telar, such as the Computer History Museum, among others. It’s a path that has no end.”
“The work developed is a milestone in the history of studies dedicated to the research of digital humanities.”
Giselle Beiguelman is proud of the path her students are following. “Accompanying Caroline was a gift. The award recognized the work and dedication of a great researcher. She spent years and years working on the history of digital art, digital design, and the issues of preserving this history. Caroline has a fighting, tenacious, creative profile, she is a person of extreme rigor. The work developed by her is a milestone in the history of studies dedicated to the research of digital humanities. It may seem like an exaggeration from this old advisor, but the important award is the greatest evidence and certificate of her capacity.”
.
Giselle recalls that this is the second year that the students and professors of FAU have been awarded by the Latin American Design Awards. “In 2023, the Demonumenta project, coordinated by doctoral student Luís Felipe Abbud, won second place in the Digital Design category.” In this edition, former FAU students João Generoso, one of the designers of the Demonumenta project, and the Bijari group were also awarded. “It’s also important to highlight doctoral candidate Didiana Prata, who is leaving for Madrid, selected for the Ibero-American Design Biennial. FAU has stood out for student projects recognized in Brazil and in other countries,” observes Beiguelman, with pride.
Caroline Speridião’s website can be found at https://deriva-telar.fau.usp.br
English version: Nexus Traduções
