Representation in virtual space

The graphical user interface (GUI) typically provides a multi-windowed environment within a flat workspace or “desktop.” Simultaneously, however, controls for executing commands within this interface are increasingly being rendered three-dimensionally. This paper explores ways in which the space of the GUI desktop might be literally and figuratively deepened through the incorporation of visual devices that have emerged during the history of art—specifically, perspective and light effects. By enriching the visual vocabulary of the GUI, greater semantic complexity becomes sustainable.