An experiment to explore new ways of experiencing poetry, this interactive site is an immersive interpretation of the seminal work by T.S. Elliot. 

Please explore the full experience on the actual website: https://rhapsody.ttaiyo.com/

While the poem can be read and experienced in a linear fashion, if the viewer interacted with each active element as they appeared, we also allowed the viewers to go past an interactive element and enter an alinear experience by choice, which would further enhance the abstract nature of the walk.

Going for a walk

Inspired by the structure of the poem, which outlines an individual’s late-night wanderings and the memories recalled on the way, the site was designed with two experiential layers – the street and the memory. The street is where people can slowly wonder,  back and forth if they need to, and observe the city in detail.

Deep in thought

As the walk is ‘time-stamped’ throughout the poem, where the street lamps appear to speak to the poem’s main persona, these moments were pulled out and sectioned for their respective illustrations. Upon clicking on the flashing street lamp, the user enters the realm of thought and reminiscence. Something along the street has caught our persona’s eye, and as his thoughts wander the images transform and into other things.

Visual scrollytelling

Hand-drawn illustrations, which have organic lines and the texture of pen on paper, was our style of choice. These were then scanned and converted into vector graphics in attempt to improve the load time and scaling ability of all the assets. With the moodiness that often accompany ink drawings, we aimed to retain the high contrast of black and white, but added greys and occassional gradients to highlight the white used as accents.

Client
Self-initiated project

Collaborator
Taiyo Totsuka
Front end development & sound design