branding, design fiction, motion

Department of
Digital Remains

RECOGNITION
︎ STA 100
︎ PRINT Awards 2020, 1st place, Student
︎ GD USA Awards 2020
︎ Creative Quarterly ‘62 Winner
︎ Communication Arts: Typography (Shortlist)

In 50 years, the dead will outnumber the living on Facebook¹and it will turn into a virtual graveyard. The Department of Digital Remains is a fictional federal agency that keeps a tab on all your virtual actions which will determine your fate in the digital afterlife.

In an age of immortal digital presences, this is a speculative look at what happens to our online selves after we die. This project uses design fiction to examine digital lives through the lens of digital death while trying to answer the question: If we have found ways to treat physical remains of the departed with dignity, why not digital remains?

thesis ADVISORS
Ellen Lupton
Jennifer Cole Phillips
Annaka Olson
Elaine Lopez
Jason Gottlieb

Graduate Thesis
Maryland Institute College of Art
2020

Thesis Book︎︎︎

case files at the department: before and after trial

Welcome to the Department of Digital Remains.

You have digital karma.

As online souls, you are held accountable

for what you create, promote & allow online.

Our karmic accountant has been

keeping tabs on your virtual actions.

Here at the DDR, we strive to treat

the digital remains of the dead with dignity

and ensure justice in the digital afterlife.

From the bold fashion choices you

made, to the avocado toasts you shared,

we want your portrait in the

digital afterlife to be an ode to your

unique digital footprint, not a generic
‘Remembering’ above your name.

machinery of the department

colour of each case is determined by the tone of the content they have shared.

Everland is the eternal hall of fame

where your digital self would be preserved

for eons to come. An active participation

is rewarded. Exemplary Netizens are those who

lead an admirable life of duty and

honour and/or brought immense love

and joy into the digital landscape.

case files

A Digital Eulogy

The pixels of one’s digital footprint form unique portraits of their digital lives. These would include one portrait that expressed the overarching emotional quality of their social media presence and other pixels would reflect their interests and leanings.

What is the digital world if not another

galaxy of countless wounded sentiments?

Even with the best of intentions, you swing

left or right, you are bound to rub someone

the wrong way. Our Committee of Hurt Feelings
checks in on all the agony your words

are causing, knowingly and unknowingly.

We take no responsibility of ensuring

a peaceful digital afterlife to those with

a deplorable digital karma. If your digital

karma is unsatisfactory, your profile will be

banished to Cape Troll.

The Committee of Second Chances will give

you warnings throughout your digital life

and a fair trial to your memory before

sending your case to Cape Troll.

With a postive score, you can choose to

have your profile deleted after death

and earn a peaceful afterlife off the grid

in the Isle of Oblivion.Your loved ones will

receive a key to your digital cabinet.

Our grad show got cancelled due to the outbreak of COVID-19. I got by with a little help
from my friends and set up an immersive installation experience of the fictional department.

assumptions

In 50 years, the dead will outnumber
the living on Facebook.

Death is bureaucratic.

Our digital lives continue to exist after us.

If there’s an afterlife to our virtual presence, there must be consequences to our online actions.

asK

Can I use design fiction to examine:
the idea of a digital afterlife?

our reductive approach to life and
death online?

our digital lives through the lens of
digital death?

aPPROACH

Designers Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby’s ideology for designing for unreality was extremely influential in my design process. They describe the aesthetics of speculation as “a techno-poetic landscape situated somewhere between what we are and what we have the potential to become.”