Lekker druk!
Project details
- Year
- 2024
- Programme
- Bachelor – Graphic Design
- Practices
- Social Practices
- Minor
- Powerplay
Wat schuilt er achter de druk?
Lekker Druk! is an experience that invites you to explore the deeper layers of your busy life.
It started with an everyday greeting, How are you? in which people often indicated that they were Lekker Druk! This got me thinking about the meaning behind it. I realized that we measure our value and identity by our productivity. Being constantly “busy” has become so normal in our daily lives that we often take it for granted. I want to make people aware of the “busy culture” and the challenges it brings.
Theater as a Design Principle
My design integrates theatrical elements to portray the various masks and roles we take on, highlighting the discrepancy between our real identity and social persona. The colorful and vibrant world of spectacles such as De Parade, theater, clown shows, and the circus serve as inspiration for my design. With theatrical symbolism, I set appearance and reality against each other in a visual and interactive way. Playful, humorous, and relatable, with an experience that doesn’t take much time, fittingly for being busy. And with which I aim to plant a seed for greater awareness.
Making the invisible visible
My research shows that being constantly “busy” has become so common that we often consider it normal. My design strategy aims to make this phenomenon visible by translating it into a visual experience. The experience begins with an everyday greeting, directly addressing the visitor. You are then led through curtains printed with quotes that visually represent the invisible pressures and expectations we experience every day. As you dive deeper into the installation, the walls become narrower and narrower. This gives you the feeling that pressure and stress are building up more and more. From the outside you don’t see this, just as pressure often builds up unnoticed in your life. Eventually you stand before a distorting mirror, distorting your reflection. This includes the question, “How does pressure distort your life?” A moment to look at yourself in the mirror, a moment of reflection and an invitation to explore abstract concepts such as social pressure and self-image in a light-hearted and personal way.
Experiential theater
This immersive installation uses experiential theater and an experimental approach, rather than more traditional media such as reading and watching, to emphasize the importance of physical and emotional depth. It is an individual experience, where everyone has their own meaning and background, allowing you to reflect on your own social masks and internal pressures, independent of outside influences.
Location
This installation can be found in museums and cultural festivals, but is especially striking in locations such as university campus, where students experience not only academic but also social pressure. Co-working spaces and busy public places like train stations and business districts like the Zuidas are strategic locations for this experience because of the daily flow of travelers. In these places, you are encouraged to think about work-life balance.
Lekker druk!
Combining playfulness with serious reflection, “very busy” creates a space where visitors can reconsider their own busy lives and be inspired to look beyond the automatic reactions of daily existence. This installation plants the seed for visitors to reflect on this topic.
Always open to connect, drink coffee, dance and create!
