CLIENT
Personal Project
MY ROLE
Lead Designer, Art Director
TEAM
Clarence Leung, Ebrima Jassey
An exploration of Frank Ocean’s 2012 album, Channel Orange, through an amalgamation of visualizers, shared stories, and narratives from the perspective of the listener.
The Project
Inspired by Ocean’s lyrics in End, the concluding track on the record, wwworldinyourhands serves as a larger metaphor for the three-part journey that makes up our project: a digital platform, an installation, and a publication.
In building a web of stories across the world through our digital platform, recreating a selection of those experiences in an installation, and capturing the nuances of those narratives in our publication — we hope to unveil the same musical threads that tied us closer together for others, bringing a world of memories into your hands.
Research
One of our favorite parts of this project was collecting stories and memories from our close friends who were also admirers of the album. We conducted over 15 interviews and asked questions such as:
The responses that we received were more than we could have asked for. Our interviews were rich with personal and vulnerable memories associated with the album. As the interviewers, we were able to resonate with some of the shared narratives, while we were also introduced to new ideas and perspectives.
The Website
The website is the first touch point for our contributors and visitors, and is dedicated to the collection of stories. It’s sparse and unrevealing, but it’s dotted with references to the music that our participants know and love. Users are asked to select their favorite songs, and to elaborate on the role that these songs played in their lives. After completing the questionnaire, the user is met with a new page featuring an animated composition and an updated description of the project.
The Installation
Hosted at the wonderful Studio Matthews courtesy of Kristine, our installation is entirely informed by the unique listening experiences of Channel Orange, which we’ve collected through our interviews.
We recreated the settings that our narratives were derived from.
Parking your car at Edmonds Boulevard and listening to Forrest Gump.
Laying on the floor of your childhood room, with the dingy carpet rubbing against your skin, listening to Pink Matter.
The Projections
The space is split off into three primary sections: the first being projections of the pink matter featured on our website, as a way to reintroduce viewers to our project.
Communal
The second part entitled, “Communal”, features a short film recounting listening experiences in the car. A setting that feels very nostalgic, familiar, and sentimental.
Solitude
Lastly, the third section is entitled, “Solitude”, in which we’ve recreated a bedroom to bring viewers to a place of comfort and quiet reflections.
The Publication
The third and final part of this project is the publication.
We created a zine featuring narratives, interviews, and visuals. The photo direction of this project was dreamy, ethereal, and had a third person perspective-- as if you were revisiting a distant memory. We used a simple stab stitch binding and utilized the ellipse as a di cut on the front cover.
Reflection
This project marked a celebratory moment: graduating university! I’m forever grateful to bring the music of my favorite artist to life - in a web filled with precious moments and stories of the people near and dear to my heart. Thank you to my lovely friends, Clarence and Ebrima for loving this music with me.
