Ritualist
Project details
- Year
- 2021
- Programme
- graphic-design
- Practices
- Commercial
- Minor
- Branding
Click here to read my research paper
Ritualist helps people to question their performance pressure and possibly put them into perspective and keep them somewhat under control. The object highlights the productivity culture, and the ritual is there to make people more aware of this intense, sometimes addictive, relationship with productivity and the need to spend every free minute well. We live in a society that demands a lot from us, and this can sometimes cause a high performance pressure, which can sometimes even turn into a burnout. Ritualist wants to help people detach themselves from all the stimuli in their environment and create an overview of what busyness means to them.
By performing a ritual with the object, the user can think about whether or not they are going along with the trend of today’s productivity culture and how they can respond to it. The user will start thinking intentionally about what productivity really means where the focus will be completely on the ritual.
The productivity culture contributes to a social problem that, like the status symbol of being busy, can lead to increasing performance pressure among young adults. Changes in working life and the rise of the digital age have contributed to the way we view productivity today, something that makes productivity in our leisure time increasingly important. Like me, many peers also noticed that they were struggling with this phenomenon. After all, filling every free minute of the day is not productive but very tiring.
The object is created to perform a ritual that feels the same as checking off a task on a to-do list. Even if you think you have not been productive, the ritual helps remind you of what you did do and that taking a break and being non-productive is also very productive. People can literally carry this awareness with them when they relax and are reminded of it by the daily ritual and the pillow they have filled with paper.
This project is the start of a conversation among Gen Z youth with the goal of ensuring that the culture of productivity does not negatively impact them. This culture is prevalent among young adults and they also indicate that social media reinforces this and that they sometimes experience an unpleasant feeling when they have not been busy and productive. When performing the ritual and reflecting on the completed tasks, they are actually engaged in being productive.
This is the beginning of a piece of (re)recognition. What I think is important is that young people continue to talk about this together and can share experiences with each other. There will be a safe environment for this on the website, but also more attention on social media is important.