Seed
How do we record and remember dead in the digital era?
About this project
Seed is a data platform and digital monument that collects and records deaths in the epidemic and visualizes the uploaded information. Users can share their thoughts and memories of loved ones here to get the release of emotion.
Death in the epidemic
Covid-19 has caused the death toll to surge in a short period of time, and the medical system is overloaded. Governments’ underestimation of the severity of the epidemic has led to many unnecessary deaths. Many deaths are caused indirectly, some mental health issues have been strengthened with the implementation of the lockdown, which will also lead to an increase in mortality.
Wrong Information / Risk Awareness
By relating real-life events to the development curve of the epidemic, I found that the further expansion of the epidemic and the arrival of a second wave of the epidemic had a lot to do with the government’s underestimation of the epidemic. A number of bad decisions and opaque information kept many people completely unaware of the seriousness of the epidemic.
Mental Health Problem
Losing a loved one during the epidemic will make it harder than usual to bear. Because of the isolation policy, relatives and friends cannot communicate with seriously ill patients. The lockdown and funeral policies have prevented this trauma from being expressed and relieved. Therefore, we can foresee that the number of trauma cases will increase sharply in the future.
Ideation
I combine some of the characteristics of the monument and the support group to build a visual digital monument. It is a platform that can be published, expressed, and supported. Its emotional process follows some simple guidelines for trauma recovery, which can be roughly divided into some stages: build an environment, review and admit, mourn, find the connection. Makes mild mental health problems alleviated.
Sketch
I need to find a suitable form of visual organization to visualize the user’s data and information. My first idea was cemetery, and I have since experimented with viral forms. Soon I decided that the dandelion was a viable and elegant design direction. On the one hand, the form of its dissemination, growth, and spread is very similar to the covid-19. On the other hand, the growth of this plant also indicates people will eventually come out of grief and regain a new life.
Classification
Based on the WHO statistics and classification criteria for causes of death, I use different colours to represent different causes of death. Therefore, when users browse this platform, the overall colour will reflect the main causes of death in a particular area.
Outcome
