TARA
Challenge
Designing the Great Unknown
The government is developing a new consumer time travel program to be called TARA (Time And Relativity Association), which needs to speak to the civilian audience. Develop an identity system for TARA that establishes its brand.
Prepare a guideline that demonstrates how this brand can be universally applied, including some environmental examples such as a logo in a cockpit, or on a ray gun. Make sure that proper use, and misuse examples are clearly documented.
This website is a case study of my thinking and design process for the TARA brand.
Strategy
The Past is History. The Future is Unknown.
There are unlimited ways to imagine time travel. History is full of attempts to do exactly that. I began my process by creating a set of constraints, called “time travel rules”. These would act as a filter to guide my vision.
After some initial research, it became clear that humanity is focused on reliving the past. Our Google searches reveal our desire to go back and course correct.
My idea of time travel is based on the notion that nothing is wrong with now, and there is nowhere to go back to.
Instead, I imagine a future where humans are propelled forward by pure curiosity. TARA offers time-travel in one direction. Tomorrow.
We can try to predict the future, but we would be wrong. The core mission of TARA is to foster curiosity, and to embrace the great unknown with optimism.
Let's hope there's a Chronology Protection Law, to prevent people going back and killing their parents.
Time travel rules
I created these guiding principles from research on current time travel theory and the bounds of my own imagination.
- Time only moves forward. Entropy and quantum physics forbid going back.
- We can travel as fast as 99.99999999% the speed of light. A new formula has been discovered that allows us to harness an infinite energy similar to that of the Sun.
- Rapid space-travel affects time dilation. Our perception of time on earth is different to the perception of the time traveler.
- There is no evidence of wormholes. We can’t warp space on demand.
- The closest Black Hole is thousands of light years away. It is impossible to get there without a wormhole.
- We can’t travel time without traveling space. Space and time are interconnected based on the General Theory of Relativity, called space-time.
- In theory, we could “see” the past in the radiation of a Black Hole, if we ever built a device that could read that.
- We assume TARA exists because time travel has proven safe and possible.
- There are many motivations behind time travel. The only one we are concerned about is curiosity. This avoids veering into questions of a highly ethical nature.
Process
Organized Chaos
Just start. That’s how I get inspired. It begins with leaving my bias at the door and listening to my gut. It’s a boxing match between my critical and creative mind. Back and forth between experimentation and research. The designs support my findings and vice versa. Here’s a look at the beautiful, never ending circle.
Questions
Designing from a constant state of inquiry helps me stay flexible as change happens. Here are some questions I asked during the research phase that helped me conceptualize the TARA brand. To generate them, I imagined what it would be like to take my first TARA journey.
- How is time travel possible?
- What is time dilation?
- What is a space warp?
- Could we travel to a black hole?
- How fast do we need to travel to bend time?
- When could time travel become possible?
- Is time travel as easy as plane travel?
- Are there any risks involved?
- How could I use design to prevent casualties?
- Who’s the intended audience?
- What would I pack for the journey?
- What languages exist in the future?
- Could I meet my future self?
- Why can’t I travel to the past?
- How much will the journey cost?
- What is the concept of time travel, outside of physics?
- Without knowing the future, how will I promote time travel?
- What is the motivation behind TARA?
Story
The Eternal Fascination
All of us are time travelers. We travel minute-by-minute, day-by-day. What if we could harness our collective energy? Could we alter the face of time?
Yes.
Introducing TARA.
The Time and Relativity Association.
TARA is years in the making. Light years to be exact. Time travel—once an impossibility—is now possible. The discovery was made after overlapping theoretical time travel data from a variety of the world’s leading mathematicians, physicists, symbolists, archetypal psychologists and historians. The distilled findings unlocked one of the greatest unsolved mysteries of the ancient world—the pyramids.
Using high-energy particle physics, a ‘void’ was found deep within Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza. On the sacred walls were scribbles—ancient hieroglyphs later translated to be mathematical equations. Upon further exploration, similar etchings were discovered inside the pyramids of Iraq, China, Indonesia and Mexico. Each featured their own cultural symbolism, yet all revealed a unified message. A new source of energy so powerful, it would propel humans near the speed of light.
Thanks to Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, we have contained this energy and can harness it to travel to any space-time point in the future. The only limit is your curiosity, and the bravery to step into the great unknown.
TARA
Tomorrow is Here
Brand Book
The Future Belongs to the Curious
What does TARA feel like? What colors and sounds best represent its mission? To inspire curiosity about an unknown future, we required a multi-sensory approach. Time travel is a immersive experience, so we need to be an immersive brand.
TARA is anchored in our present trajectory: we’re on the go, we think and live in a digital world. Tomorrow’s brands will not be static structures, but living interfaces.
Our mission of ‘curious exploration’ translated as the element of distortion in the designs. Distortion celebrates motion and refuses to stay static. It means living in multiple perspectives at once.
With everything moving so fast, our view can easily become distorted.
Any opportunity to provide a moment of pause—a moment of wonder—becomes future currency. Because of this, our brand experience must be exceptional, shareable and always identifiable.
Colors
The Full Spectrum
The TARA brand colors are light and absence of light. Black and white.
Traveling near the speed of light squeezes your view, creating distortion.
All colors become one color or none at all.
As we speed up or slow down, we notice the long and short wavelengths of light. Through this motion, colors are born. The TARA palette does not consist of single colors but the entire spectrum at once.
The TARA Logo
A Timeless Symbol for a Timeless Brand
The typography chosen for TARA is bold, arresting and clear.
These are fonts that need no introduction. While playing with type, my attention was drawn to the pyramid within the letter ‘A’.
The simple triangle—instantly recognizable and timeless.
I adapted it into a pyramidal frustum (as seen from the front) and the TARA logo was born. Great design is simple. That’s why I chose to represent the greatest feat of humankind as a humble symbol.
Moodboards
Visualizing Tomorrow
In order to see the future and get a feeling for the TARA brand, I immersed myself in anything that sparked my sense of curiosity. Any color, font, symbol, sound or concept that felt unrecognizable yet familiar, mysterious and appealing, went into the 'yes' pile.
TARA is a company that inspires, wherever you are and whatever your circumstances. I passed my selections of awe through a final litmus test: the look and feel must evoke wonder.
Wonder is the window from where you are to where you want to be.
Language
Universal Understanding
The language of TARA is a set of universal, timeless symbols. Similar to how the New York Transit Authority revolutionized transportation design with the introduction of symbol-based signage, TARA aspires to go one step further.
Inspired by Mayan numerals and Carl Sagan's Pioneer Plaques, I chose the mystery of a symbolic language to communicate that pull towards mystery that lives deep in our collective psyche.
Applications
Never Stop Wondering
TARA's mission is to inspire and foster curiosity.
We will never know the future while still in the now. If we want to see the future, we have to trust, get a one way TARA ticket and just go.
Mono Suits
Traveling near the speed of light has it’s risks. Like death.
The spacesuit designs must reflect our brand’s simplicity and color palette, but also withstand an energetic force as powerful as the Sun. My curiosity took over.
Fun Fact
A Nobel Prize Answer
I wanted TARA to respect science as much as possible. During my research, I watched a lot of time-travel movies and read many mind-bending theories.
I went ahead and asked Kip Thorne some big questions. His answer was short, but spot on.
Thank you Kip!
Travel Stations
Look into the past to design the future
Although this is a theoretical exercise, I wanted to make a serious attempt at future relevancy. This brought me to the question, “What makes something timeless?”
Looking at the past provided clues in the form of ancient pyramids, Mayan numerology and Euclidean geometry. I realized that symbols are the only language that have stood the test of space-time.
It's a trapezoid. It's a pyramid.
It's the gateway to an unknown tomorrow.
Credits
- Role
- Brand & Interactive Designer
- Client
- TARA
- Year
- 2018