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Illuminate is an audio-visual experience set up as a contemporary, technological alternative to the confessional booth. By dimensionalising catharsis, it aims to amplify its effects.

Inspired by aurorae, a beam of muted light is projected and flickers softly on a wall.

When people approach the microphone installed on a plinth with their troubled thoughts, a computer program receives the audio from the confession in real time and translates it into sparks of colour — a visual parallel for the emotional catharsis that comes with allowing yourself to be vulnerable.


Category:

Data Visualisation

UX Design

Experience Design

Visual Identity

Printed Matter

Tools:

TouchDesigner

Adobe Indesign

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe After Effects

Rode NT-USB Microphone

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The visuals in the projection are controlled through a series of connections in the node-based programming language TouchDesigner.

A cut-off frequency is established that makes the program prioritise audio input from nearer rather than further from the microphone. Then data drawn from the audio is translated to the Z values of a coloured noise operator as well as the horizontal and vertical scaling of two additional overlapping noise layers. The result is a shifting gradient of colour that sparkles as a voice is detected.

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To help users record their confessions as well as enter a more meditative state, reflective cards were given as a keepsake on which to write their thoughts.

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The type design across headers for the installation’s printed collateral aims to visually reference the undulating quality of projected light. By animating text in After Effects texture is created that results confers flickering and glowing appearance. Multiple image variations of the same text can be generated through this system.