CONSPIRATORY

UI/ UX
2021

Conspiratory is a platform for those in the pursuit of truth. A space safe for the discussion of topics that don’t fit the mainstream narrative.

An app inspired by and for online conspiracy theorists. Includes zine, app and microsite.

BACKGROUND AND RESEACH

Conspiratory was born from exploring a subculture of my choice. We were to research the history, members and visual language of our subculture and create a short zine, poster set, and mobile app.

In doing my research, I was fascinated with the online social aspects of contemporary conspiracy theories. In the case of QAnon, there was no central space or clear set of beliefs. However, this vaugeness is what allowed so many people with similar beliefs to go down the rabbit hole. There was a space for everyone, as long as one believed in QAnon’s core values.

Visually, I wanted to incorporate the themes of skepticism, community, investigation, patriotism, and online spaces. In my resrach. many of the graphics I came across were made by non-designers. This was something I wanted to emulate because it connected to the grassroots nature of my subculture.

Conceptually, it also aligned with my subculture’s skepticisms towards mainstream and established ideas. In the spirit of conspiracy theorists, I challenged the idea of following design principles = “good work”. How far could I break outside of established design priciples, and at what point does “bad” design eventually become “good”?

My zine and poster served as initial resrach and visual exploration for my eventual app, Conspiratory.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

Conspiracy theorists need a contained space to learn about and discuss conspiracy theories with eachother.

RESEARCH

I wanted Conspiratory to reach all conpiracy theorists. In order to I scoured the depths of the internet to find obscure forums, Facebook groups, and websites relating to various conspiracy theories.

I found there were similarities between these different communities:

Emphasis on independent resarch
A distrust of existing “mainstream” narratives and powers
Being a free-thinker and in the pursuit of truth
Finding community among people with shared beliefs

When thinking of how to approach Conspiratory, I realized I needed the users to feel safe enough to discuss their ideas with someone willing to seriously listen.

DESIGN PROCESS

When designing, I wanted to include two main components in my app:

Forum component for social interaction
Wiki component for research purposes

The content and information for everything in my app is crowd sourced for the sake of integrity.
User flows and screens were designed keeping in mind the goal of user.