Internet Lexicon Shift, “exploring social media
lexicon paradigm shift
within online fashion
communities”
Brief
To create an immersive experience which translates the essence of a paradigm shift into engagement with audiences, and allows the visitor to discover it through action. Additional criteria we were asked to consider were:
The context of designing experiences for spacial environments, and what purpose that spacial environment served.
Applying research methods to explore ideas on narrative, information, identity , materials and experience design.
How we could merge physical environments with the interactive aspect of digital tools, blurring the boundaries of physical and digital through world building techniques.
Ideation
What inspired my personal concept was a serious of videos online by a linguistics student. Their content later became one of the “signals” identified for my chosen paradigm shift. I was fascinated by their long form analysis on the “Tower of Babelfication” of society . Their videos argued that recent shifts social media algorithms that have become so personalised has lead to people using different language to their in real life peers. The content people are consuming is so specifically catered to keep the the user’s attention to increase engagement , that the niche vocabulary of online spaces and rapidly changing semantic drift makes people become detached from the in person communities of the user.
To develop this concept I brainstormed “lexicon shift” in context to social media and other online platforms
Concept Research
To understand the essence of my paradigm shift as well as gathering ideas for conceptually depicting various narratives, I conducted various forms of research.
The secondary research was both qualitative and quantitative, I gathered datapoints, signals and drivers behind the concept. I looked at a range of sources , from ethnographic research on marginalised groups in context to technological accessibility to speculative literature on cyberspace.
Once I had gathered enough datapoints and signals, I identified two main drivers for my paradigm shift :
Rapid Growth in Technologies and Increase in Digital Inclusion - infrastructure, accessibility and Literacy.
Mapping out Datapoints, Signals and Drivers of my Paradigm Shift
I additionally conducted an in depth qualitative research interview around an individual who had personally experienced a paradigm shift in terms of communication within fashion related internet communities over the past decade.
He had engaged with fashion related content online for around 8 years and I sent him questions in which I allowed him to interpret broadly , or answer multiple as one answer etc. in order to gain as much insight on the topic as possible.
Summary of Primary Research Findings
Storyboarding, Moodboard
To compose my piece I created a storyboard composed of three stages :
Beginning Stage - there is a community with rapport, figures stand together in a room, their designs are consistent to represent a “shared virtue”
Transitional Stage - figures are consumed by jellyfish like viral structures, representing a “decline in ideology and “babbelification” process.
Final Stage - figures have been consumed and transformed into incoherent forms .There is no longer a “shared virtue”. The figures can no longer communicate or have rapport, there is only noise. If you have a desire to communicate you have to engage with said noise.
Storyboard
Mood Board
For visual references I gathered various textures to represent the paradigm shift process, such as blue screen walls and various virtual environments, as well as various virus and aquatic life related imagery.
Narrative, Visual Infrastructure Research
To inform the narrative and visual structure of the virtual space further I looked two exhibitions for inspiration.The first piece I looked at was “CULTUS” , an exhibition exploring ideologies of Silicon Valley and their cult-like worship.
When viewing CULTUS I found the execution of world building and narrative very impressive considering the size of the exhibition, change in narrator or concept was executed through changes in digital display unit visuals or voices projected on speakers, as opposed to any major physical traversing on behalf of the viewer. I concluded that I did not necessarily need a large virtual space to communicate a complex concept.
CULTUS
The second piece I looked at was UVA-Synchronicity, a notable element of this piece was the level of abstraction of many of the different exhibitions. At a surface level glance the content may not appear to have a clear explicit meaning but on further reflection and inspection or when the viewer is given further context and information meaning can be placed together . Something as simple as lights and sounds depicting nature emerges into a narrative around the Anthropocene.
I concluded that as long as I had a clear concept my narrative depiction could be rather abstract.
UVA Synchronicity
Exhibition Design, User Journey
I decided to create a Theatrical Approach design - dividing the narrative into separate sets in which the audience moves, with each room representing a different stage of my storyboard. The exhibition would have emulation of digital display units to depict online content from my research (comments, memes , quotes from research) . Each transition or corridor would represent the passage of time and physical sculptures or objects would represent the storyboard.
User Journey
Additional Visual References
Final Prototype
To create the piece I constructed three separate scenes - two on one enclosed floor and one with a deconstructed ceiling representing a collapse or disintegration of “shared virtue”. This transition is further communicated through the viewer traversing a spiral staircase upwards. The scenes depict the storyboard through 3D objects and research is depicted through emulation od digital display units or canvases. This includes depiction of various online content (instagram memes, TikToks) as well as quotes from my secondary research.
