The User is Evil

2015

A design research project on violence and the darker sides of our imaginations. ‘The User is Evil’ explored how violent thoughts and fantasies can be applied and creatively utilized within the design process. The project consisted of a collection of short stories based on the killing fantasies of a range of ‘users’. 
Each fantasy was interpreted and analyzed by a different professional: a private investigator, an artist, a lawyer, an architecture educator, a forensic scientist, an interaction designer, a philosopher, a poet, a psychology researcher, an online forum, a sound designer and a video director. Through the interpretation of these hidden parts of our imagination, the project aimed to question the normalization of ‘users’ within the design process and attempted to unleash the hidden potential of the dark side of our psyche.

The project was presented as an open archive; cataloging and interpreting the responses in visual and audio formats.