Script
NC State Studio
Team
Solo
Year
2024
Duration
4 weeks
Overview
What if you could listen to anything anyone has ever said? No take backs. Everyone is listening.
Script is a speculative social media mega-app that imagines a future where social media addiction to sharing has become an epidemic. Users are continuously recorded throughout the day, and their recordings are uploaded as podcasts. With access to archives of millions of users, Script challenges viewers to confront the consequences of oversharing in a world where cancel culture, misinformation, and hate speech become inescapable parts of everyday life.
My Role
UX Design:
Branding:
Speculative Design:
The Question
What happens when the most addictive features of the top social media platforms are combined?
My Answer
Script, a social audio app that continuously records users throughout their day and uploads their words as podcasts.
With access to archives of millions of users, Script challenges viewers to confront the consequences of living in a world where life becomes a performance. As social media addiction becomes a growing epidemic, how does it affect our behavior?
Product Analysis
I interviewed my GenZ friends, classmates, and peers to understand what makes social media so addicting.
2 billion users
"I feel connected to the people I care about in real time."
"FOMO. I don't want to miss what my friends are doing."
"Social validation— likes, views, and replies on my posts feel rewarding"
TikTok
1.5 billion users
"The algorithm learns fast. It feels like the app was made for me."
"I can get a range of content. Funny, wild, inspiring. It keeps me engaged."
"Videos are short. It's low effort to consume."
Snapchat
800 million users
"It feels more personal and real, like a digital hangout."
"It replaces casual texting, so you wind up spending more time than you realize."
"Streaks feel like a responsibility. I don't want to be the one to lose it."
Understanding My Audience
Social Validation
Likes, views, replies, and messages create pressure to stay engaged and allow users to receive social rewards.
Habits
Streaks, notifications, and infinite scrolling turns opening apps into a reflex, a routine.
Personalized, Low-Friction
Users can stay connected with people and topics they care about. Short form content makes it quick to consume.
Final Design
Welcome to Script
In this speculative future, nearly everyone is a user of the social media conglomerate Script. It is integrated into everyone's lives — the barber, barista, the president. Everything everyone says is recorded and uploaded for everyone else to hear.
And its no big deal.
Find anyone, from any time.
Didn't catch what someone said? Scroll back through the archives. Browse through millions of scripts, from friends and strangers, to celebrities and niche categories of strangers.
Parasocial relationships are the new norm.
You may not know them, but you know what they were thinking on December 11, 2018 at 1:47 in the morning.
Does access make us more empathetic, or do we need to be more careful?
Be careful though! Don't want to say the wrong thing, otherwise the wrath of the internet trolls might just come after you. Or the police.
