ideas and sketches

As the town is quite empty (in tearms of people), I decided that I can create a different experience than the google earth one.

I thought that it would be interesting to make a short storyline, either in the form of a comic or as a story on top of real images from the city. The point is to animate and fill in the gaps.

As I was trying out layouts, I realized that I can create a woman's body within the lines, so that could be interesting. I also tried house shapes, but that didn't really spark my interest.

I guess my fascination lies in the fact that I am used to big, crowded cities, where there are people everywhere. So I think I can start by imagining what it would be like to physically visit this Fukushima.

The fact that by google searching the name of the city, the only information shown is related to the 2011 nuclear explosion is very weird to me. That stands as the most commonly known fact about the whole area. But, 9 years later, Fukushima is recovering and there should be more to find out about it.

I am under this impression that something is being hidden for me, as I could not get close to the nuclear accident place. The town is not animated either and the news are generic, so it feels like I cannot experience the city and understand the life inside of it.

This is a rough sketch, but I would like to include my character inside real images of the place. By clicking on a certain frame inside the layout, you would be able to see the full story inside of it.

I also thought about including QR codes in my comic, but I am not sure how. It could be that you have to scan something to fully view the image. Or I could include QR short animations. AR would also be an option.

I could also change the aspect of some buildings so that the final product would be a combination of google street view images and illustrations.
I can focus on the daily life of my character, or on specific places in Fukushima.

The patterns I found could work as transitions.

I would also make it more clear for the viewer that this is a virtual space they are looking at by merging real images with illustrations.

I also tried following people around the city in google maps, trying to find out more about their daily lives. But as I would get closer they would disappear.

I started to make some characters and integrate them into the picture. I wanted to keep them quite simple and "anonymous", matching the google maps people.

I made them on transparent paper, and this is also the effect I would want to include in the booklet. People would be able to flip through and separate the real from the illustration. The QR code would be on the real picture, sending the viewer to the google earth location when scanned.

I only colored some arguable insignificant features on each character, so it is not all white, but also not too detailed. I also want to experiment with different layers onto the same image.The drawings would be digitally made in the end, this is just a first experiment.

The point is to present the city and possible life within it. So the little book could serve as a guide. Maybe I could add actual streets or coordinates?!

After the first feedback session, I shifted a bit from my original concept. Instead of making a comic, I would like to create a little book with multiple characters. I think this would also allow me to include my drifting and research since I can add more images. It could be a physical thing as well.

I wanted to see how the outline alone looks over the picture, but it seems a bit dull.

The idea of objects acting like characters made me think of the scene of the plastic bag in American beauty.

I thought about the different ways in which I can incorporate the QR codes into the physical booklet. The character would be printed on transparent paper, so it is not possible to print something on the other side.

I realized there are a lot of vending machines around the city. So, from my character, I started to move through the city. It could be that the woman dropped the ice cream. I included images of vending machines around the city, alongside QR codes with the google earth view.

Having so many vending machines outside on the streets is something uncommon to me. You can mainly find them around shops and advertisements, as well as gas stations. There is one on almost every corner, every street.

The printed version would be a different experience though since transparent paper can create a specific effect.

I printed some pages to see how it looks like. The transparencies were quite tricky and that also ended up changing some of my layouts.

After experimenting with the printed version, I realized that I am drifting apart from my original idea with the characters. I started to focus more on the guide-like aspect, presenting the city trough my own findings. It just wasn't about the characters anymore, as I found the interactive aspect more interesting.

The final piece would be an interactive guide through the city. I want to focus on the QR codes within the book. These would send the viewer to web pages that reveal the actual place in google earth. I recently found out that it also works with VR glasses and I think this would be a great way to experience it

Additionally to google earth, the QR codes would also make the connection between the hoglue page (which also contains elements) and the guide. I also want to include a little bit of text.