At University, I studied Digital Communication Design, a course which specialises in digital design and communications. In my final year, I wrote a dissertation on how people perceive themselves online through social media and from this, I designed and built The Continuum of Online Identity Installation.
The installation is based around the differing identity representation that users undergo whilst being active online. One side of the installation represents the ‘offline’ self and the other side represents the ‘online’ self, which represents the personas that users inherit online and offline.
The installation incorporates layers of acrylic sheets etched so that when the sheets are lined up, you able to see through them and the view will produce a full facial image. The aim here is to focus on the breakdown of the identities that people create through social media. ‘The Continuum of Online Identity’ focuses on three main stages of this breakdown: 1) Anonymity, 2) Pseudonymity and 3) Real Life.
The installation was then exhibited at the Business Design Centre as part of the New Designers Exhibition, then scouted to be a center piece at a Technically Human event from the marketing company Jellyfish with guest speakers attending from Google, Fitbit, Mail Online and the Telegraph.
How It Works Each sheet will light up according to how close of far away an individual stands to the installation, the closer you get, the more you see. The distance represents how well you know someone and how much you see; the further away you are the less you see, the closer you are, the more it lights up because you see more of someone. This installation uses body sensors, which have been coded to detect motion and light up the installation in stages, depending on how far/close you are to it. The coding has been put together in Arduino 1.6.3, using an Arduino UNO device, which has been inserted inside the installation. Alongside this, there are 6 Adafruit NeoPixel RGB LED strips which project light through the acrylic sheets which have been laser etched onto. All of this is placed inside a wooden plinth instead and darkened tent.
DESIGN
INSTALLATION & LED BUILDING
FINAL INSTALLATION
