Questioning the Supernormal in the Digital World
By Rhebsa Elsa Anil & Dhanvi Patel
Project Overview
What is Supernormal? As Designers, we decided to perceive this concept from a different angle to understand what supernormal means to us as two individuals.
In Order to do so, we designed three states for a travel app to complement what normal is to us.
We designed animated states that were normal to ourselves for a travel app. We share the same understanding around normal being dynamic and we have taken a personal approach to that.
Final Outcome
SUCCESS STATE
The success state is a visual representation of the phrase “Good job, here’s a cookie” this is a universally used phrase to emphasize a job well done or for completing a task. This is also a commonly used phrase by my mother, my siblings, and me every time we finish a chore.
The success state is a visual representation of the phrase “Good job, here’s a cookie” this is a universally used phrase to emphasize a job well done or for completing a task. This is also a commonly used phrase by my mother, my siblings, and me every time we finish a chore.
LOADING STATE
Looking through my personal travel journal, the process of traveling, wherever it may be always starts with packing my bags. Which for me indicates the beginning of a journey. Hence, I animated a travel bag as a loading icon.
EMPTY STATE
The success state is a visual representation of the phrase “Good job, here’s a cookie” this is a universally used phrase to emphasize a job well done or for completing a task. This is also a commonly used phrase by my mother, my siblings, and me every time we finish a chore.
After taking a glimpse of each others works we understood that normal differs from people to people. Dhanvi designed the three states from a sustainable point of view with the intention of bringing back sustainable travel to main stream normal. While I designed the three states with a personal approach.
To begin my line of thoughts I started thinking about what a normal loading state is to me under the context travel. it was difficult for me to break free from standard loading circle which every user encounters. The same restrictions applied to the other two states. Hence, I attempted to view the three states from a different perspective to produce different results. I identified what normal is to me in the physical world under the context of the three states and the broader concept of travel. To break it down, I asked myself questions such as, what is normal for me when I think of travel and loading in the physical world. After answer the questions using the three different states, all my answers were strongly tied to my memories and story telling.
In the book supernormal of the sensations of the ordinary, the author talks about how normal objects become super normal to the user with use. After designing the three states, I started thinking about whether digital visual or objects which are not considered normal have the ability to become super normal with use.
For example, the three states which I designed, these three states are very personal and normal for me. But, if I were to put this out in the digital world suddenly, users would probably be confused becomes it contradicts their normal. But if users were to use different apps and constantly see these three states over a period of time, would users start identifying the states as their new normal?
While thinking of this I tried to relate this with real world incidents like iPhone eliminating their famous home button from iPhone X and the newer versions of Iphone. The initial response was negative but over time and with use of the buttonless iPhones, it became the new normal for people.
Similarly, in 2016, the Indian Government decided to replace the Indian currency with new notes over night and the public was in rage because of major inconvenience and the lakh of new funds over the initials weeks of the change. But, the transition from the public having negative feelings towards the new currency to the public having no memory of what happened in 2016 was very smooth and quick with constant use.
In the book supernormal of the sensations of the ordinary, the author explains how the functionality of an object/product is most important and the design should not be given importance. However, from our perspective, we believe that when it comes to creating, the functionality and the design play an equal role. To further prove our point, we designed the three states slightly differently in terms of its design but the functionality remains the same. The states have been designed through different lenses of the designers and the functionality of the icons convey the three different messages.