i remember not remembering (2023)

i remember not remembering is a set of design experiments that explores the link between memories, self-identity, and human senses. Memories are not just memories, they carry untold stories, experiences, cultures, emotions, feelings, etc., and help shape the person we are today.

This body of work presents the process of one project leading to another, a journey creating relationships between personal recollections and senses of sight, hearing, and smell.

Mentor: Kristian Bjørnard
Software: Illustrator, InDesign, After Effect, Aero

Photos by Chloe Vo.

sense of sight and hearing

In this 3D animation, the designer explores the sense of sight and sound in particular. Memories are not just memories, they carry untold stories, experiences, cultures, emotions, feelings,.. and help shape the person we are today.

The designer created a typeface, Tube, inspired by the architectural visual of tube houses and used it as buildings in this animation. The neighborhood where she grew up was recreated based on memory. The letters in the cityscape add up to her old address, a way to cherish something that is now gone.

Sounds evoke powerful emotions that bring back memories. When listening to an old piece of music from years ago, we feel as if we could travel back to that moment. Ambient noises from daily life, such as traffics, dogs barking, the neighbor’s rooster, or one of the songs played at her family’s coffee shop, bring the designer back in time.

This is a space that neither exists in the present reality nor in the “reality” that she could remember. It is an alternative space to her own memory.

AR EXPERIENCE
A supplemental project to accompany Alternative Space to My Memory. It is an immersive augmented reality experience that allows the audience to interact with the animation by simply scanning the QR code.

The audience can either use the provided iPad or scan the code with their own phone (compatible with iPhone X and newer models, Samsung Galaxy 10+, Samsung Galaxy S21 and S20, and Pixel 4XL).

sense of smell

The Glance of Smells explores olfactory semiotics and how smells and memories are intertwined. It visualizes smells from a personal memory using abstract shapes with different colors and textures.

Colors are often associated with specific objects or concepts, like blue with water or dirt with dark brown. However, people perceive colors differently, especially those who are colorblind. This project discards these traditional color associations and assigns new meanings based on emotions and memories rather than physical objects. This creates a unique way of visualizing memories through abstract shapes and colors.

Each of the objects represents a smell of a thing, a person, or a place that ties to the designer’s own memories. (Details are explained in the publication.) The poster’s distorted and condensed text and the paper’s materials indicate the blurriness and imprecise nature of our recollections.

The poster is installed as a loop with two layers, the bottom text stays still, and the top transparent sheet is moveable that allows the audience to roll it to see the smell objects on the other side. The idea of an infinite loop represents the act of information going back and forth within our brain as we recall the memories.

Scrolled posters’ demonstration

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