This project was designed for the 2024 Protothon. We chose the gaming track, and was tasked with creating a re-playable survival game. Inspired by dark patterns within social media and the misusage of AI, we created a Social Media simulation game with a twist. I was in charge of visual identity, iconography, some motion design, and the final presentation.
Warning: Loud noises and flashing images.
Visual system
In order to highlight the different systems, I separated the system into two categories: Social Media Platform and The Algorithm. We used different colors, fonts, and screen styles to differentiate the two.
SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM
I chose SF Pro as the main font because it's the standard Apple interface font and widely used on social media. We were also inspired by Instagram and Apple's design, so I chose a cheerful gradient for our brand color, with a hint of red symbolizing the algorithm's unpredictability.
ICONOGRAPHY AND IMAGERY
The icon style plays on stickers and have swirls in order to create a playful vibe. This was in order to make the app feel more game-like. To highlight the dangers of fake news and manipulated media, we added AI generated images into the feeds as a way to add an eire and creepy feeling when scrolling. These images were generated with MetaAI and Copilot.
THE ALGORITHM
Inspired by Microsoft Terminal and other “tech-y” systems, we used a pixel based font for this system. A mono font was picked for the body text because of the technological feel. To make it feel very different from the other system, I chose a black background. I used red for the main color because it created an ominous vibe when used with technology.
ICONOGRAPHY
In order to keep the technological and somewhat “old fashioned digital” vibe, we chose a pixel based icon style for this system. There also aren’t many icons used in this system, as it is very text based (like most terminal based systems).
FInal Deliverable
For our final submission, we submitted a very in-depth presentation deck detailing our design decisions and choices, with links to our final prototypes and app video pitch.
To view full presentation with videos and links click here.
