From the tool to the spatial metaphor: Graphical user interface and audiovisual creation in new media

Abstract

This article is set within a technological paradigm shift that denotes a transition from hardware to software and that, by means of applications and operating systems, plays a central role in the sociocultural sphere, intervening in the creation, classification and distribution of cultural objects. The aim of this research is to delve into how the graphical user interface (GUI) integrates into contemporary audiovisual discourse, focusing on its potential as a spatial metaphor. To that end, a theoretical framework is built on the concept of space as a tool and its instrumentalization in the GUI throughout the years, with a view to design a taxonomy in relation to the different ways in which the GUI integrates into digital image composition. The article concludes that the ability to operate in the virtual and physical space, moving between the logic of the tool and its potential as spatial metaphor, provides the GUI with the necessary specificity to be considered a key cultural element for analysing new media’s visual identity.