WONDERFUL THING EXPERIMENTAL PUBLICATION
"Wonderful Thing" is a curated box set commenting on the dichotomy of the information and usage of the internet broken down into a book, pamphlet, and adventure game. It’s absurd that you can see something lighthearted and helpful one minute and then something dark and troubling immediately after. The internet can be overwhelming to society and is something humans have to learn how to live with without it consuming us or enhancing our most negative tendencies.
(2021) Experimental Publication
Scope: Package Design, Publication Design,
Illustration, Photo-editing, Lighting/Construction
Scope: Package Design, Publication Design,
Illustration, Photo-editing, Lighting/Construction
PLAY THE ADVENTURE GAME!
The visual language consists of muted colors and bright blue pixels trying to capture society’s attempt to replace the color of life with technology and the dulling of life when shown through a screen. In a literal sense, the pixels also represent the blue light emitted from our screens, affecting our eyes. Some of the color changes in the project are reminiscent of what happens when you highlight a word with your cursor, such as the title of the pamphlet. The infinity mirror in the lid is reminiscent of the rabbit hole you can fall into when your deep in a doomscroll. The bottom of the box is lined with ads because you can’t escape them no matter what you look for. I wanted them to be bright, disruptive, unattractive and take you out of the piece for a moment, much like the affect of real ads. This project was inspired by Bo Burnham and his song “A Little Bit Of Everything” which is highlighted in the pamphlet.
INSPIRATION
I wanted this work to be reminiscent of the internet without being too retro or obvious. However, when I first started my process I realized I needed to lean into that theme to get those ideas out of my system and then see what elements I liked from those that I could pull for my project. My favorite element was a rectangular pixel that I would use to start building my new visual system.
CONSTRUCTION
The construction of the different pieces were the most difficult part of this project. The lid alone took a few weeks to finally perfect due to the platforms that had to be built inside to hold up the infinity mirror, but still have the lid be all one piece. The adventure booklet was the most fun to put together despite the delicate binding. Slowly watching the fan effect come together was very satisfying.
PROCESS
I decided to do a box set so I could include multiple different elements into one cohesive project. I wanted one piece to discuss or pay tribute to the parody song the project was based on. I wanted another to discuss different articles and findings about how we interact with the internet and the positive and negative effects. I wanted another to be some sort of interactive game to illustrate the points that the booklet and pamphlet are trying to make.