I Want You to Want Me

Concept board


Death: I like how I developed the fabric illustration in this one. The fabric I chose for this garment was a black chiffon with stripes of subtle glitter and the hints of white on black really does well to translate reality into illustration.

I went to the MOMA today to see this special exhibit called 'Design for the Elastic Mind.' One particular installation there really struck me. It was an alternative interface for an online dating service called I Want you to Want Me. It's a stunning piece of art in itself: essentially it's a large touch screen which features a background of a hazy sunset sky punctuated by a mist of clouds. Depending on the options you choose from to see different user profiles, top ten first date venues etc. These profiles are represented by mini balloons which float in the air and when you touch the screen they grow bigger to show thought bubbles and fly away once you change the setting. It's a very whimsical and delicate approach to this complex realm of online relationships in which a person decides to boil down their most intimate desires into this tiny bubble. The stress and the anxiety in looking for that 'Prince charming' is played down through the soft, warm colours of the interface along with the music that plays in the distance as well as the ability to be able to touch the screen which is almost a representation of you coming in physical contact with another user in the system. I also love the title of the piece: "I Want You to Want Me". There's a certain wistfulness to it: a sort of hope and sadness at the same time.
You must see this to get a feel of what it's like: Movements.
Just scroll through them because they are stunning pieces of work. I love it. We had to pick two pieces to write about and I wrote a ton about this one because it really reflects this problem I encounter when trying to maintain my frienships through the Internet. The interface is cold, systematic and impersonal despite the fact that MSN allows you to 'personalize' your page through their set backgrounds and display picture changer. I cannot see my friends (webcam lags, gives me a fragmented projection of a live person), I cannot touch them, I cannot hear them laugh or shout or cry nor can I verbally speak to them through the Internet (okay there is the microphone option but it will probably slow my comp down plus I'm also doing a lot of stuff at the same time and the other person may not have the equipment to do so either). I can only type out words to them in a visual text conversation.
It's why, I said in an old entry, that I live on words and I live through them. That I myself have been reduced to words and the physicality of being trumps all that.

I love design, though it is often not done well, because it proposes an alternate view of looking at our world. We are constantly making and remaking it because we all do want to see it change for the better.

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It was a clear blue sky today, sunny and stunning with a powdery layer of flowers blooming from the branches of the trees. The wind caught my breath away and I felt like God was in my presence. New York is so beautiful in the spring.