Designblog

Didn’t I see this before?

Have you ever had this strange, but uncertain feeling that you have experienced something before? An overwhelming sense of familiarity? A moment you are not sure if something similar or the exact same thing already happened? Then you belong to the majority of people who have had a déjà vu. Scientists are still unsure how to explain this phenomenon. Some try to link it to memory functions, claiming that familiar events can trigger memories of forgotten information. Some say it’s a more like a “memory check” of our brain: a signal that there is a conflict between what we think we’ve experienced and what we actually did experience.

There are other interesting theories as well that try to explain a déjà vu:

Precognition: We have the power of foresight. A déjà vu is the evidence that we are actually able to predict the future.

Reincarnation: We have lived before. A déjà vu is the surfacing of a hidden memory, evidence of a previous existence.

Higher dimension: Our consciousness actually exists outside of our physical bodies in a higher dimension, and when a déjà vu occurs, it’s a brief moment when that separation becomes clear.

Parallel universes: There are other versions of ourselves, living in parallel universes. A déjà vu is a moment we share a memory with an alter ego of another universe.

Precognition: A déjà vu is the evidence that we are actually able to predict the future.

In a web app I created for iPads you can move along stories told by various images and collages of hands. Sometimes you end up at a point you think you have experienced before. But is it really the same, or does it just familiar? You might just have a déjà vu.

When browsing through the internet, we often experience this feeling of familiarity. Links and tags create a confusing net of intertwined information, often taking you back to a page you have been before. But because of the information overload we are exposed to, we are often not sure. Maybe you experienced it while surfing through the Design Blog, using the various tags. And you asked yourself, didn’t I see this before?

Excited.

Fulfilled with excitement I rushed to the library. I entered the room for the third time.

Now.

Finally.

The forbidden part unlocked. Like a child in a candy shop. Delightedly seduced by all the delicacies.

All of a sudden the assignment slipped away.

One book after the other blew air into my face, while the images caressed my eyes.

At once.

The notion.

A mission.

To find an escape from reality, but was I not absent for a while. Withdrawn from my boundless fantasies, disappeared into the space between time and space.

Entwined in thoughts, the book in my hand scattered the light.

Déjà vu.

This time the reality was soft and friendly. The green glittering smiling at me.

Still one goal to achieve.

What does all this candy have to do with the other books.

What is art in comparison to design. With these questions in mind my fingers danced on the covers of the books.

Gently.

Still following shape of the books.

Faster and faster.

Until the dark force was clearly sensible. Everything was dragged inside.

The book still resting in the palm of my hand.

Even questions were redeemed to exist.

The answer appeared.

Art is like the cover of the black book, endless and deep. With an absorbing force, whereby it is expanding.

Is design among one of them.

Not recognizable as such, is that clear.

Boek nummer: 705,9 -Li- 1  en -toe- 1