Before the break I met with Birgit to talk about my master’s thesis. I had a rough idea what I want to do for my thesis since end of November, but nothing really concrete yet. To be honest I also had some doubts about the topic every other day if this is really what I want to do. I thought a lot about the topic and the project, brainstormed, researched but somehow, I circled around the same project ideas over and over again. While this is probably a normal part of the process, I still felt stuck. So, the meeting with Birgit came at a very good time for me, since I wanted to move forward with my idea and get more concrete.
One thing that felt quite clear to me already was the general direction for my thesis. I want to design something that embraces low-pressure creativity, fun, a bit of uselessness, and something whimsical. I feel like we are missing all of these sometimes during our everyday life as creatives. I see this as a counter to the productivity- and hustle-culture we are currently live in. It feels like everything needs to be useful, perfect and efficient. With my thesis I want to explore the opposite: creating a space where people can simply enjoy the act of creating without goals, pressure and expectations.
However, my intention felt clear, I struggle with what the creative space/playground could be. What should be on the website? What do people do there? How does it look like? After pitching her my idea she gave me a historical context I didn’t think of yet. She told me about a the time where the internet was full of so-called “useless” or one-purpose websites, especially during the time of Flash websites. These sites didn’t try to solve a problem or be efficient; they simply existed for fun, surprise and a little confuse.
One example she showed me was the, back in the days very famous, Hamster Dance Website (http://www.hamsterdance.org/hamsterdance/). The website doesn’t really do any useful it is basically just a loop of animations of a hamster with music (unfortunately the sound somehow doesn’t work, but the version Birgit showed me had sound). There is no goal, it doesn’t lead to anything and there is no productivity value and yet it is very joyful and funny. This reminded me that the internet hasn’t always been about optimization, metrics and productivity. It was playful, strange and delightfully pointless. So, I am going to take a deeper look at the history of websites and what was already out there.
Another aspect Birgit told me I should consider is the time factor. She suggested that the webspace or the content of it should not be available all the time. Instead of it being constantly available, it should be available only temporarily, for example 24 hours, before disappearing or changing into something else. That is the same concept as BeReal follows, people can take a snapshot of what they are doing now, once every 24 hours. This limitation creates presence and urgency, but without the pressure to be perfect. This temporal aspect could reinforce the idea of low-pressure creativity: you show up, you play, you create and then it’s gone. You create just in the moment, there is no way to iterate, optimize or monetize.
Even though I still don’t have an exact idea of what the webspace should be like, the talk with Birgit gave me new insights and impulses for the next steps.
AI was used to check spelling and grammar and better clarity.
