Lanie Nowak
pattintor.gif

Patti Smith App

This is an app I prototyped to explore Patti Smith’s narrative of the locations she experienced in her early years in NYC (based on her memoir, Just Kids) through: overlays of video and image, and storytelling through her own quotes. I created this during my first semester of my Thesis year at Parsons, under the advisory of Juliette Cezzar. I have also included an editorial booklet I designed further investigating different types of memory loss and memory research.

I taught myself how to prototype, and was inspired by how evocative Patti Smith’s descriptions were of all of the locations she worked, lived, and loved while living in NYC in the 1970s.

Individual screens walking through locations:

Walkthrough of Washington Square Park location

pattintor.gif
fountain.gif

For my preliminary thesis exploration and research, I designed a pamphlet investigating different ideas tied to memory. I knew I wanted to focus on memory, but I was not sure which areas were most interesting to me, so this helped me discover different types and connect themes. Each spread’s text is from Wikipedia articles on each concept. Some examples include spatial memory, impermanence, amnesia, nostalgia, and repressed memories. I have learned from the thesis process how integral and exciting research can be for design projects. 

Creating this pamphlet illuminated my specific interests, as well as narrowing down what I would be focusing on going forward with my actual thesis project. In my final project, I worked with the ideas of nostalgia, impermanence, and how memory is linked to place.