For my visual media project, I decided to create a visualization of a common feeling many relate to. And that is–the feeling that when life gets rough, the world should halt. When in reality, despite what your mother might say to you, the world does not in fact revolve around you (sorry to be the one to break the news.) Life keeps going and the Earth keeps on spinning regardless of what is going on in one’s personal life.
The code works through audio input. Visually, the user sees a globe spinning in circles (as we should hope the Earth does, right?) As the user speaks to the spinning globe, their complaints become visible atop the planet before soon dissipating into tiny particles and vanishing into space. Regardless of the weight the complaint holds–every input has the same outcome. Whether you’re complaining that your favorite contestant was booted off the bachelorette, or if you’re expressing your fears about not being able to pay rent this month–everything dissipates in the same way. These particles rotate alongside the earth until eventually returning to space alongside the stars. This component of the design represents the core of this message. That being, again, a reminder of how miniscule our issues are in the larger context of the universe.
A classmate (shoutout to Shareen) made a comment to me after class about how perhaps this is not as negative as it seems. And instead, that this can be a helpful reminder to not take things so seriously. That life will not end from one bad grade, or an embarrassing mistake.
Be it an optimistic or pessimistic perspective, the message is the same. Life continues and stops for no one.
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