emily deras duran

With this knowledge I went the scientific route and three boxes were designed with three tiers. Tier one begins with a metal border in the style of H.R Giger which is Darwin’s iconic ‘Tree of Life’ but reversed to emphasize a reversal of evolution. McQueen’s initials, AMQ, are distributed throughout and ‘Plato’s Atlantis’ is clearly legible on the side for a proper introduction.

Below the border lies a print of the shedded skin or fibers of a snake, gecko, and silkworm cocoon as a representation of change and evolution alongside quotes from Plato’s writings on Atlantis.

The first tier then slides out, revealing the second tier. This print is of the trichomes of a water lily, lotus, and minute duckweed which are aquatic vascular plants, symbolizing the midway point from natural to submarine. The metallic ring in the middle has a fish-eye effect to make the viewer feel like they’re looking down into a microscope. This tier would contain marketing goods such as a dust bag and thank you card.

Pulling out the second tier reveals the third and final tier. The print is the underside of a horseshoe crab, a species that has gone practically unchanged for thousands of years; a final aquatic evolution. It's accompanied by a quote on natural selection by Darwin. This tier would contain whatever couture item the customer has purchased.

I changed the brand’s name from ‘Aphrodite’ to ‘Aphrodisia’ which was a yearly summer festival held in ancient Greece in Aphrodite’s honor as I felt ‘Aphrodite’ lacked thought. I thought the same of the type, logo, and overall lockup of the original bottle, revamping those as well with a hierarchy reflecting the structure of a Greek pillar.

Beginning with the mid-tier bottle, its challenge was to keep it within its price range while elevating the original design. Its cap is shaped and can be used like a traditional ouzo cup with a thick-glassed bottom that carries a pearl; one of Aphrodite’s representative symbols. Just below is an engraving in Greek which translates to ‘The Bottled Beauty’ which is Barbayanni’s original tagline.

The jagged lines on the top and bottom are like those seen in seafoam which Aphrodite is said to have been born from. The inner shape of the bottle is reminiscent of ancient Greek liquid vessels, and the bottle itself is all curves like the goddess. The gold used throughout the design serves as a nod to the original bottle and ancient Greek art.

The high-tier bottle’s biggest challenge was to make it distinct from the mid-tier as well as be able to make the bottle an experience. It omits gold but introduces marble to its cap and base, another nod to ancient Greece. Atop the cap lies a carved relief of the goddess which can slide to present a mirror as another nod to her.

Pearls remain on the cap, but the number increases to four for a touch of elegance and its association to Aphrodite. Around the cap’s neck is a piece of fabric fashioned after a girdle which was used by Aphrodite to bring passion to mortals. On it is ‘Ode to Aphrodite,’ a poem written by Sappho who hailed from Lesbos where the ouzo is crafted. The actual bottle has more refined curves with ‘Aphrodisia’ embedded as a pattern on the glass.

Clicking on any buttons around the edges presents the user with a pop-up which doesn’t take up the entire screen to give the user a feeling of getting things done quickly as they are not options one would spend much time on.

Options users usually spend plenty of time on are located in the middle screen which, when tapped, expands to full screen.

These design decisions came from research including a UI flowchart, deconstruction, and a 13 question survey with 21 participants. Ages ranged from late teens to mid 50s with safety concerns, relaxation points, and legibility being emphasized among participants. Most of the participants had little knowledge on self-driving technology, and this UI would serve as an easy introduction.

This all led me to the decision to make the main elements in the UI heavy textures, metal, steel, and wires as they are seen often in the manga but not to an overwhelming extent. The logo’s type is a bold and loud sans-serif to signify an action game, but the body copy is a textured serif type in reference to early 2000’s video games from the PS2 era as the game is meant to have been created in 2005.

Also in reference to the era are the illustrations which are drawn in a lineless style when part of the UI and a lined style when in-game. To tie the visuals together, the palette is made of cool grays and blues.

It all makes for a desolate and cold ambiance, which is accurate to the kind of apocalyptic and artificial world ‘Blame!’ has.