RITA
WANG
NIGHT BUS STATION
WHY DO PEOPLE STAY UP LATE?
Night Bus Station is an experimental website for nighttime dwellers to offload their emotions and connect with other people who are also up late. The website changes the user flow to accommodate the changing emotions during nighttime.
I'm very inspired by Malte Müller's Web Design as Architecture. I want to explore and create spaces meant for nighttime dwellers and confessions.
WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT? &
HOW DO PEOPLE'S EMOTIONS CHANGE HOUR-BY-HOUR?
→ METHODS
Diary Studies: User documented their emotions during different hours of the night.
Graffiti Wall filled with my fellow designers' nighttime thoughts.
Camping in subreddits about sleeping time.
WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT?
44%
Expressed relationship and family issues keep them up at night.
30%
Consistently express feelings of regret at 1am and 2am.
48%
Expressed feelings of anxiety & overwhelmed from 11pm to mightnight.
Insight: Universally, nighttime is a space for amplified consciousness and unresolved thoughts.
HOW DO PEOPLE'S EMOTIONS CHANGE HOUR-BY-HOUR?
→ COGNITIVE DECLINE AFTER MIDNIGHT
Research responses became shorter as night progressed, with midnight serving as the critical threshold for this shift.
→ TASKED-BASED EMOTIONS
Students filled nighttime with negative thoughts tied to productivity which ends up being very volatile.
→ SPACE FOR REFLECTION
Working adults welcomed nighttime as a period for internal rumination and processing.
→ PROGRESSIVE LONELINESS
Feelings of isolation intensified as the night wore on.
WHY BUS STATION?
Places of public transit are transient in nature. By using the bus station, especially at night time, as a metaphor, the user will feel welcome to share their late night ruminations.
The transient location of a night bus station instills the impermanence of nighttime thoughts. It leads users to share without consequence or the burden of permanence.
My photo of a bus station in Florence
Night Bus Station is an experimental website that adapts its interface and user flow based on the time of night. Each hour of the night has a different theme with different questions.
The station metaphor serves as a framework for unloading ruminating thoughts and connecting with fellow nighttime dwellers.
Users are asked to board the bus and take a ticket to begin their journey at the station.
Users will answer three questions that relate to the theme of the hour.
USers can see what others are writing for that hour of the night in a message board.
Users will not be able to access the website during daytime and will only be open during 10pm–6am.
The final product creates a novel approach to emotional wellbeing design. Users feel accompanied without forced social interaction.
Link coming soon...