Daniel Fain
Four products that question the interrelationship between phone numbers, access, privacy, and identity
Phonebook listing everyone’s mobile phone numbers (including yours)
“Enhanced” dial pad (try it)
Business card that tells you who you are (you are welcome to take one)
Numeric font to be tattooed on the arm (to easily identify someone’s number)
By creating uncomfortable objects, interfaces, and typefaces, I am trying to bring attention to our ongoing ‘relationship’ with our phone numbers, components in a system that is arguably taking over our identity, coercing us into becoming part of a rigid, controlling network where everyone must constantly be identified and within reach from a very young age.
These four exercises are part of my ongoing research into the intersection between dissonance and contemporary graphic design: we live in an era where we are constantly exposed to graphic content. Our audiences, overstimulated by the proliferation of social media and advertisements, will most likely overlook or ignore what we produce. Design visuals that causes discomfort and disharmony (i.e. dissonance) can disrupt a viewer’s routine, thus making our work noticeable and not easily ignored.