Communication Design Bachelor of Design (Honours) Design MADA Now 2022

Sean Le

How might we informalise and emotionalise the issue of misrepresented technologies through experimental videography? The difficulty in designing against misinformation is that I am attempting to spread awareness alongside the infinite content of the internet. After a year of design research, the challenge of communicating complex issues such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs was decided through experimental videography. I aim to attract the largest possible audience through the trend of short-form social media formats, i.e. TikTok and YouTube. Furthermore, my videos are 30 seconds each and they are my best effort to convey the absurdity and dejection that my research has put me through.

Exegesis Website

My website displays a critical documentation of my design honours research throughout the year. It documents my design studio and theory work, uncovering the elements that led to the creation of my videography outcome. The website is also set into episodes, structured around the design double diamond. However, the main importance lies in my documentary reflections on the how, what, and whys of my design research.

(Exegesis website linked first above)

'Prologue: Going Low with Crypto'

The prologue is used to contextualise why I made the series and how I naively started out my design research. I started off optimistically basing my design research around NFTs, but I was not prepared for the hardships and absurdity that came with investigating the issue of misrepresented emerging technologies.

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPBmOfSbatE

'Episode 1: Getting Bred'

The first episode is an exaggeration of the discovering phase of my design research, where I uncovered that the misrepresentation of emerging technologies is driven by spectacle rather than actual utility. My character eating bread represents the modern slang of making money because tech misinformation is bred from monetary gain.

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=57LYSkiF8iA

'Episode 2: The Apples Falls'

The second episode represents the reality of the recent NFT and cryptocurrency crash, where real lives were ruined. The apple motif was used to symbolise the define phase of my research as I began to see the main issue as knowledge and misinformation.

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlIGQx6X4lQ

'Episode 3: All Chips In'

The third episode highlights the absurdity of the issue even more so than the first because this story is based on the real $258 Doge coin lawsuit. The use of chips is a reference to gambling as when one buys into these speculative technologies, they must keep fighting even when all is lost.

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-TKoKjbg5Q

'Epilogue: Where it Went Wrong'

The epilogue's purpose is to make sense of my research and how it amounted to more uncertainty. The video highlights some key issues but also concluded with how the main problem is misinformation which is unsolvable by its nature. Therefore, I see my videos as my only means of addressing the misrepresentation of emerging technologies.

View full video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR7iZv-shQM

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