Senior Project / Product Design Fiction
.nectar explores the ominous future of content aggregation online. The system revolves around a theoretical online platform that cycles through content while simultaneously building an eerily detailed profile of the user.
.nectar calls into question the contemporary practices of media websites by reframing what we know as personalized content through an Orwellian lens, where human identity is reduced to a web of data categories.
This project was influenced significantly by the senate hearings of tech giant leaders in 2019 and 2020. Apart from contemporary news, much of my research came from the book Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff, where she explores the emerging economy of user identity in advertising.
At first, I asked users of a range of ages about their relationship with content aggregation, exposing concerns over creating echo chambers, the spread of fake news, and general fears of being manipulated by what they interacted with online.
Early sketches explore how design fiction might be used to disarm my audience by allowing them to see this familiar system as something bordering on dystopian. I leaned into design fiction because I feel fiction has a way reframing familiar things in a new light.
Then, I asked what kinds of information they were comfortable sharing with companies or individuals. Generally, people were comfortable sharing their hobbies or opinions, but less inclined to reveal lifestyle preferences and information about people they know. This attitude aligned with some of my other research into this.
Drawing on these conversations with users, I knew it needed to be something interactive, with input and output learning for both the user and the application. and a relatable identity that could invoke trust but still capture malicious undertones.
My visual system revolves around the metaphor of data as nectar, collected by bees, or in this case, users. A cube/hexagon mark represents both the categories of data and the structure of a honeycomb.
My visual system revolves around the metaphor of data as nectar, collected by bees, or in this case, users. A cube/hexagon mark represents both the categories of data and the structure of a honeycomb.In addition to the application, I also created promotional artifacts including a website, two short videos, and packaging for “Data Honey”.
You can explore the website and interact with the prototype here (link).
