Shi Ge Ji
The prototype design for “Shi Ge Ji: A Site for Zombie Literature” showcases a collection of social media robot posts from Weibo, and invites visitors to discover, read, and search for Zombie Literature that interests them.
My Role
Product Designer
Project
Self-initiated
Timeline
3 months (2023)
Tools Used
Figma; Photoshop; Illustrator
KNOW CONTEXT
Background
Here is a Q&A answer from Zhi Hu, where I first know the idea of zombie literature.
Zombie literature is a unique phenomenon that exists only on Weibo: a Chinese social media platform. Weibo has many inactive robot accounts, known as “zombie accounts,” which do not engage in any social activity for a long time.
Weibo deletes long-inactive accounts, so zombie accounts create original posts to stay active. These posts are generated using an algorithm that mimics content from real users. Social Media Bots sometimes write nonsense but meaningful sentences, which is what we call Zombie Literature.
Initial Thinking – Can I write interesting things as those bots do?
Knowing that there are a bunch of robot accounts engaging in post creations on Weibo, I began to wonder what kind of creative work the zombie accounts could write. So I started to collect zombie literature to find interesting posts.
I checked collections of zombie literature from @Zombie Literature Bot, which are pieces that many people appreciate.
I browsed my Weibo account to find my fake followers which are zombie accounts, and read their posts.
For Zombie Literature I liked, I saved them as my personal zombie literature collection, just like browsing through poems I like.
KNOW PEOPLE
Quantitative research
A Booklet for all questionnaire participants — Introducing Zombie Literature
Human’s Poetry & Bot’s Post
Do you know what is zombie literature?
Can you distinguish real poetry and zombie literature?
After reading some pieces, what do you think zombie literature is?
Multiple choice: try to distinguish from real poem and zombie literature
“From guessing, people can tell the difference between real poetry and randomly generated sentences. ”
Human Analyzing Zombie Literature: What is this?
Joy – 41 years old
New to Zombie Literature
“They disguised as a real person…Maybe a poem writer?”
Tim – 21 years old
Knowing Zombie Literature
“It seems like a nonsense story, but somehow funny.”
Anna – 23 years old
Knowing Zombie Literature
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Jace – 26 years ol
d
New to Zombie Literature
“That’s not literature, but I can’t write better.”
FRAME INSIGHTS
Building a website for Zombie Literature Collection;
Having people know, explore, and understand AI algorithms’ achievements.
DESIGN CONCEPTS
Information Map
Design Approaches
I named this site Shi Ge Ji, which is the syllable of “zombie literature poem” pronounced in Chinese.
I'm using light blue and bright orange as the main color scheme, which I think matches the idea of an automated bot creating humanized pieces.
The visual language is created based on torn paper, reflecting the identity of forgotten, fragmented, and patched-together pieces. Audiences can drag and rearrange the pieces of paper to create alternative layouts.
The site presents Zombie Literature in two languages: Chinese, the original Zombie Literature, and translated into English. Both languages appear simultaneously, not as a language choice, but as a way of presenting the coexisting text.
REALIZED OFFERING – FIGMA LIVE PROTOTYPE
Four Main Sections
Landing Page → About → “A call“
Starting from the landing page, I have the question which is the initial point that brings me to know about zombie literature. The About page has two languages, Chinese and English. Going back, clicking this arrow will navigate visitors to here, a post from a zombie account saying he’s trapped in the internet world. The post is lively and humanized, and I think gets people willing to know more.
Home Page → Drag Display → Reset
On the main homepage, the torn paper visual language reflects the identity of fragmented and patched-together pieces. Hovering over a piece reveals the text and shows the other language version on the other side. Visitors can rearrange the pieces to create alternative layouts. And they can reset it to the original composition.
Refresh Home → Text Preview → Detail Info
You will be able to refresh the home page to get another pile of zombie literature. Clicking a piece on the homepage takes visitors to detail pages showing the original Chinese, English, and a screenshot of the source on Weibo. Visitors can name the piece of zombie literature which gets them more involved.
Search → Bilingual → Prompt Selections → Result shown → Bookmark it
In the search section, visitors can type in keywords or use the prompts provided to find corresponding zombie literature. Here is an example of searching by the prompt “fairytale.” The site will provide you with a piece talking about fairytale-related content. You can view the details. Also, feel free to bookmark it by clicking the star on the top right corner, which will add it to the bookmark section.
Bookmark → Language Display Switch
The bookmark section is where you keep your zombie literature collection. The left-corner language button enables audiences to change all preview texts to that language, guaranteeing your reading experience. You’ll see the title you named by hovering over the paper piece. Same as the previous section, you can click the piece to see details.
TAKEAWAYS
Exploring and researching the subculture of zombie literature is intriguing, but effectively conveying abstract concepts to an audience while aligning visuals with the theme can be challenging. Also, presenting zombie literature in both Chinese and English simultaneously and highlighting their coexistence is worth thinking of double language choice in a visual design.
If I had more time, I would contemplate developing a system on the website that involves data collection from visitors. They could actively contribute to the compilation of zombie literature by sharing what they find interesting.
Hope those creations somehow interested you.
