05 World of Absurdity
Web Design | Coding
Chrome Reader – The Spider Website (2021) https://evog0001.github.io/reader/
The Brief: To create a website that compiled articles together in a legible and interactive manner.
Solution: The project’s direction came from an article which describes the mind of a spider and how spiders tend to store information in their webs. This means that a spider has two minds – the mind in its head and the mind in its web. By accessing these two minds, it can understand the world around it and using that concept, I looked at the spider’s web and connected it to the way humans use symbols to navigate places even if one has never been there before. An example of this is a toilet sign. Even if one is in a country they have never been to, with a different language, the symbol for a toilet is universal and we can connect information and actions to said symbols. I furthered this by tying logos and symbols together and created an experience where the audience expands their ‘web’, clicking on different elements to pull up articles connecting everything together.
One of the big challenges of this project was to create a one-page website which was important when creating the web. The outcome is a highly interactive one-page website where one can go on a journey though the world of webs, symbols, and signs. The moving background which tracks one’s mouse is a key part of making this page feel alive and interesting, for everyone’s experience will be unique as they work their way through the spider’s web.
The Rat King – Website
https://evog0001.github.io/startrat.html
The Brief: The design brief for the Rat King website revolved around creating a highly interactive website which is based on a strange/interesting Wikipedia page.
The Solution: The Rat King is a strange phenomenon discussed on Wikipedia where a collection of rats somehow manages to get their tails tangled together and are unable to part. This collection of rats, against popular belief, somehow survive. They work as one large organism and interact with the world for years if the preserved Rat King corpses are to be believed. The Rat King is designed to take the viewer on a journey through a strange website where you don’t know what’s going on or where you are going. It is a surreal experience with hidden pages that have strangely placed links inside it. To traverse the Rat King is to experience a site where you can get caught up in loops as one tries to click around the page to find where to go next. It is a place where you need to zoom out and explore pages beyond what one might think they need to do to find the clue for the next stage.
Through text art combined with links and strange imagery and messages, the Rat King is a fun exploration into a completely conceptual website that uses simple coding and tricks to create a deep and strange user experience.