A spate of applications have popped/cropped up in recent years with slogans like “Make Anything Art.” They purport to transfer the style of one image and render the content of another image in that style. In the sets of images below, the small inset image is the source of the “style” which is transferred to the larger image. It’s an impressive trick, although I don’t know that it accurately represents what we mean by ‘style’.
As we approach software today, often through web or mobile applications, people generally appreciate the elegance of the interaction or lack thereof. But as software engineers know, there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Of course, with user interfaces for the masses becoming a necessity for modern applications, designers and more artistic–oriented folks have been contributing to the practice of software development. That leads to the question: Is software more of a science or an art?