This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Evolutionary Computation in Combinatorial Optimization, EvoMUSART 2017, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in April 2017, co-located with the Evo*2017 events EuroGP, EvoCOP and EvoApplications. The 24 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. The papers cover a wide range of topics and application areas, including: generative approaches to music, graphics, game content, and narrative; music information retrieval; computational aesthetics; the mechanics of interactive evolutionary computation; computer-aided design; and the art theory of evolutionary computation.

Marketing and fashion branding inform many of the strategic and creative decisions involved in fashion design and product development. Marketing is a vital component of the industry supply chain and an understanding of its importance and role is essential for those planning a career in fashion. Marketing Fashion is a practical guide to the fundamental principles of marketing and branding, from catwalk to price calculation, developing brand identity to creating a customer profile. The book explains key theoretical concepts, and illustrates how they are applied within the global fashion and retail industry, from the heights of haute couture to the multiples of the mass market. Using examples and case studies drawn from a broad range of fashion, textile and retail businesses, students are led through the marketing process from initial consumer and market research to the creation of exciting marketing and branding campaigns. The book is designed to appeal to students at degree or foundation level as well as those contemplating a career within the fashion industry.

The archive has of late proven to be a powerful metaphor: history is viewed as an archive of facts from which one can draw at will; our bodies have become a genetic archive since being digitally opened up in the human genome project; our language is an archive of meanings that can be unlocked using philological tools; and the unconscious is an archive of the traumatic experiences that mold our identity. More and more artists and architects are developing software systems in which data is automatically organized into complex knowledge systems, a process in which the user is only one of the determining factors. Databases, software and archives increasingly form the inspiration for artistic interventions. Information Is Alive considers the artistic potential of these couplings via a selection of essays, interviews and projects by anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, philosopher Brian Massumi, writer Sadie Plant, paleontologist Simon Conway Morris, artists Margarete Jahrmann, Lev Manovich, Michael Saup, Jeffrey Shaw, Stahl Stenslie and others. Published on the occasion of the third Dutch Electronic Art Festival (DEAF03).

This book questions if spherology is a philosophy for designers, giving guidance on ways to read Spheres, how to approach the trilogy’s indexicality, and apply the key tropes and ethics of atmospheres to digital design. Each chapter includes a design-in, that is a practical entry point into the many tropes of Spheres including— bubbles, globes and foam. The book also applies spherology to an atmosphere design issue involving endangered species and geospatial threats to the environment. Spherology refers to the Spheres trilogy by the philosopher Peter Sloterdijk, which traces spherical ideas, theories, sensations and feelings related to the philosophical concept of ‘being’ and the human-centered position of ‘being-in’. It is the first cynical, feminist companion of spherology to take a practice-led approach and to cover all three controversial volumes to with and against Spheres. Windle draws on feminist science and technology studies (STS) through parody within reading, writing and design practices. Design provides navigation so that academics and students can engage with spherology through an embodied concern with digital materiality. As a feminist companion for today’s design issues, the book is an essential read for feminist STS scholars, design practitioners and digital R&D specialists working both in industry and academia, including more specifically data visualisers, interface and interaction designers.

Contemporary fashion in the Netherlands shows a unique mix of playful individualism, conceptual strength, and organisational innovation. Delft Blue to Denim Blue maps the landscape of Dutch fashion in all its rich variety and complexity.Luxuriously illustrated in colour, the book uncovers the cultural roots of Dutch fashion in a globalized context. The authors debunk myths surrounding Dutch fashion, dig up new facts and stories, and explore the creative relation of fashion design to cultural heritage. Written by experts in the field, Delft Blue to Denim Blue gives a rich overview of designers, ranging from G-Star jeans, and affordable retailer C&A, to a savvy brand like Vanilia, and from the famous designer duo Viktor&Rolf to a futuristic designer like Iris van Herpen. The book assesses the diversity of Dutch fashion designers, firms and brands in their historical and cultural contexts.

A groundbreaking new biography of Jack Kerouac from the author of the award-winning memoir Minor Characters Joyce Johnson brilliantly peels away layers of the Kerouac legend in this compelling new book. Tracking Kerouac’s development from his boyhood in Lowell, Massachusetts, through his fateful encounters with Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, and John Clellon Holmes to his periods of solitude and the phenomenal breakthroughs of 1951 that resulted in his composition of On the Road followed by Visions of Cody, Johnson shows how his French Canadian background drove him to forge a voice that could contain his dualities and informed his unique outsider’s vision of America. This revelatory portrait deepens our understanding of a man whose life and work hold an enduring place in both popular culture and literary history.