Geoffrey Gao

My Design Research Kit (DRK) - “IMAGINE with geoffrey gao” explores whether we still have the capacity for active creativity in this age of information overload. I designed a set of drawing activities in the format of interactive cards. Participants are encouraged to enter into the aimless but pleasurable creative process of childhood.

Each drawing activity provides basic images and open-ended instructions to stimulate unpredictable results. Power to co-design.

“L<3ve Letter” is the first website I ever designed and programmed. It explores the complex relationship between humans and artificial intelligence: humans benefit from the convenience of AI while worrying about a dystopian future.

Graffiti and poetry are both art forms about language, and they exist in parallel with AI’s sense of alienating and poetic being. What happens when they are fused together? With the question in mind, I have produced this website with the intention of creating a virtual environment that allows people to look into the future and examine their relationship with AI.

Visit the site here: geoffrey-gao.github.io/

A zine that encapsulates my memories of Melbourne’s oldest suburb. It evokes a sense of nostalgia by presenting dialogues between vintage objects. I created a narrative without a protagonist, at the same time, everything is the protagonist.

Those moments, and how easily they can be overlooked, make up everything in our lives.

A photography series shot in Polaroid duochrome films - black & yellow edition.

I always use a Polaroid camera in my daily creations. Unlike traditional forms of photography, it creates an instant physical copy after you push the button, which feels like you don't just capture a photograph, but own a tiny piece of the world. There is always a gap between the image on the film paper and the reality in your head. One-to-one size ratio takes away from the quest for perfect composition. To me, a Polaroid camera is more of an extension of my body than an external object.

A drawing book and an extension of my Design Research Kit.

The prevalence of streaming and social media has made us accustomed to passively receiving information on screens. The curiosity and creativity of childhood tends to be forgotten in the process of growing up. “Sometimes We Forget...” exists to encourage people to find the innocence that lies deep in their hearts and to feel the joy of actively creating something. In today's fast-paced lifestyle, we tend to be disciplined by our studies and work and are used to holding ourselves to high standards. However, the happiness of childhood is always so simple, even if it's just drawing something aimlessly on a piece of paper or a wall.

A series of photography work takes place in Melbourne.

This gif has a different size because it's the most special one to me. Most of the inspiration for my design process comes from observations in life. My mother gave me a camera for my birthday when I was in third grade, and I have loved photography ever since. My cameras proved my existence, they recorded the places I have been to and how I have looked at different times.