João Miguel Cunha

João Miguel Cunha is a cross-media designer working at the Computational Design and Visualization Lab (CISUC) and mainly interested in the fields of Computational Design (focused on Graphic Design), Computational Creativity and Co-creativity, Evolutionary Computation, Information Visualisation, Computer-aided design and AI ethics.

He holds a PhD in Information Science and Technology from the University of Coimbra, having previously concluded a Masters and a Bachelor's degree also in Design and Multimedia at the same institution. He teaches on the Undergraduate and Master degree courses in Design and Multimedia at the University of Coimbra.

His PhD work focused on on the topic Generation of concept-representative symbols. Currently developing the Visual Blending system Emojinating and collaborating with The Creativity Post as a columnist.

Email: jmacunha[at]dei.uc.pt (for info or collaborations)
ORCID: 0000-0001-6502-3500
Google Scholar: link
Research Gate: link

Awards


Related projects

07/04/2023

MetaPrompter – Evolving Prompts

01/04/2023

Stonkinator: An Automatic Generator of Memetic Images

23/01/2023

Using Autoencoders to Generate Skeleton-based Typography

25/03/2022

CDV lab projects exhibited on the National Day of Historic Centres

05/11/2021

CDV lab et al. @ National Exhibition of Young Creators 2021

30/07/2021

Towards a Visual Language Using Neural Networks

24/07/2021

CDV @ Romaria Cultural 2021

10/09/2020

Roadmap for Visual Conceptual Blending

08/05/2020

Ever-changing Flags

15/11/2019

Dynamic Visual Identities: Model of Features and Mechanisms

25/10/2019

Emojinating at ARTECH 2019

23/04/2020

Emojinating: Visually Representing Concepts Using Emoji

14/03/2019

Using Images Schemas in the Visual Representation of Concepts

28/04/2019

Best Poster Award @ EvoStar 2019

20/06/2018

Fashion Meets Darwin: Evolution Towards Your Own Taste

11/07/2018

The Many-Faced Plot: Strategy for Automatic Glyph Generation

30/01/2018

Computationally Fostering Creativity

27/05/2017

TypeAdviser: a type design aiding-tool

14/06/2017

A Pig, an Angel and a Cactus Walk Into a Blender

Articles

  • J. M. Cunha, N. Lourenço, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Visual Blending for Concept Representation: A Case Study on Emoji Generation,” New Generation Computing, 2020.

  • T. Martins, J. M. Cunha, J. Bicker, and P. Machado, “Dynamic Visual Identities: from a survey of the state-of-the-art to a model of features and mechanisms,” Visible Language, vol. 53, iss. 2, pp. 4-35, 2019.

In Collections

  • J. M. Cunha, T. Martins, P. M. Chaves, J. Bicker, and P. Machado, “Dynamic Visual Identities: Exploring Variation Mechanisms to Achieve Flexibility,” in Perspectives on Design and Digital Communication, Springer, 2021, pp. 91-104.

  • J. M. Cunha and A. Cardoso, “From Conceptual Blending to Visual Blending And Back,” in Computational Creativity Meets Digital Literary Studies (Dagstuhl Seminar 19172) — Dagstuhl Reports, T. R. Besold, P. Gervás, E. Gius, and S. Schulz, Eds., , 2019, vol. 9, p. 92.

In Proceedings

  • J. M. C. José P. Lopes and P. Martins, “Stonkinator: An Automatic Generator of Memetic Images,” in Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2023, Waterloo, June 19-23, 2023, 2023.

  • L. Gonçalo, J. M. Cunha, and P. Machado, “Towards a Visual Language Using Neural Networks,” in Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2021, México Virutal, September 14-18, 2021, 2021, pp. 419-423.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Ever-changing Flags: Impact and Ethics of Modifying National Symbols,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, 2020, pp. 410-413.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Let’s Figure This Out: A Roadmap for Visual Conceptual Blending,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, 2020, pp. 445-452.

  • P. Wicke and J. M. Cunha, “An Approach for Text-to-Emoji Translation,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, 2020, pp. 504-507.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, N. Lourenço, and P. Machado, “Emojinating Co-Creativity: Integrating Self-Evaluation and Context-Adaptation,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, 2020, pp. 85-88.

  • C. G. Lopes, J. M. Cunha, and P. Martins, “Towards Generative Illustration of Text,” in Joint Proceedings of the ICCC 2020 Workshops (WS 2020), 2020.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Knowledge in Computational Design: Typography, Emoji and Flags,” in Joint Proceedings of the ICCC 2020 Workshops (WS 2020), 2020.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, H. G. Oliveira, and P. Machado, “Ever-changing Flags: Trend-driven Symbols of Identity,” in 8th Conference on Computation, Communication, Aesthetics & X (xCoAx 2020), 2020.

  • J. M. Cunha, S. Harmon, C. Guckelsberger, A. Kantosalo, P. M. Bodily, and K. Grace, “Understanding and Strengthening the Computational Creativity Community: A Report From The Computational Creativity Task Force,” in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, 2020, pp. 1-7.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Emojinating: Hooked Beings,” in Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts, 2019.

  • P. M. Chaves, J. M. Cunha, T. Martins, and J. Bicker, “Flexibility in Dynamic Visual Identities: Exploring Variation Mechanisms to achieve Flexibility,” in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Design and Digital Conference (DIGICOM), Barcelos, Portugal, November 15-16, 2019, 2019.

  • J. M. Cunha, N. Lourenço, J. Correia, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Emojinating: Evolving Emoji Blends,” in Computational Intelligence in Music, Sound, Art and Design – 8th International Conference, EvoMUSART 2019, Held as Part of EvoStar 2019, Leipzig, Germany, April 24-26, 2019, Proceedings, 2019, pp. 110-126.

  • J. M. Cunha, S. Rebelo, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Assessing Usefulness of a Visual Blending System: “Pictionary Has Used Image-making New Meaning Logic for Decades. We Don’t Need a Computational Platform to Explore the Blending Phenomena”, Do We?,” in Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Computational Creativity, UNC Charlotte, North Carolina, June 17-21, 2019., 2019.

  • J. M. Cunha, E. Polisciuc, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “The Many-Faced Plot:Strategy for Automatic Glyph Generation,” in Proceedings of the 22 International Conference Information Visualisation (IV), 2018, 2018.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “How Shell and Horn make a Unicorn: Experimenting with Visual Blending in Emoji,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computational Creativity, Salamanca, Spain, June 25-29, 2018., 2018, pp. 145-152.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Emojinating: Representing Concepts Using Emoji,” in Workshop Proceedings from The 26th International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning (ICCBR 2018), Stockholm, Sweden, 2018, p. 185.

  • M. Cruz, P. Hardman, and J. M. Cunha, “Computationally Generating Images for Music Albums,” in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computational Creativity, Salamanca, Spain, June 25-29, 2018., 2018, p. 309.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, and P. Machado, “Using Image Schemas in the Visual Representation of Concepts,” in Joint Proceedings of the Workshops C3GI: The 7th International Workshop on Computational Creativity, Concept Invention, and General Intelligence ISD4: The 4th Image Schema Day, and SCORE: From Image Schemas to Cognitive Robotics, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, December 13-15, 2018., 2018.

  • J. M. Cunha, J. Gonçalves, P. Martins, P. Machado, and A. Cardoso, “A Pig, an Angel and a Cactus Walk Into a Blender: A Descriptive Approach to Visual Blending,” in Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Computational Creativity (ICCC 2017), 2017.

  • J. Cunha, T. Martins, P. Martins, J. Bicker, and P. Machado, “TypeAdviser: a type design aiding-tool,” in Proceedings of the Workshop Computational Creativity, Concept Invention, and General Intelligence 2016, 2016.

  • J. M. Cunha, P. Martins, A. Cardoso, and P. Machado, “Generation of Concept-Representative Symbols,” in Workshop Proceedings from The Twenty-Third International Conference on Case-Based Reasoning (ICCBR 2015), Frankfurt, Germany, September 28-30, 2015., 2015, pp. 156-160.

Dissertations

  • J. M. Cunha, “Generation of Concept Representative Symbols: Towards Visual Conceptual Blending,” PhD Thesis, 2022.

Proceedings

  • Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on AI for People: Towards Sustainable AI, CAIP 2021, P. Wicke, M. Ziosi, J. M. Cunha, and A. Trotta, Eds., Bologna, Italy: EAI, 2021.

  • Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Computational Creativity, ICCC 2020, Coimbra, Portugal, September 7-11, 2020, A. F. Cardoso, P. Machado, T. Veale, and J. M. Cunha, Eds., Association for Computational Creativity (ACC), 2020.