In Rhythm With Nature
Google Arts and Culture asked us to ideate and create a digital experience which connects people to nature. Over the duration of a year we made In Rhythm With Nature. A ‘living and breathing 24 hour digital garden’ which lets anyone experience a moment of calm by connecting to the rhythm of nature through a wellbeing sensory experience.
Inspired by The Linnaeus Flower Clock, each scene from our garden comes more alive at different times of the day and each user will have different experiences based on their location. Each flower breathes and moves at a slow pace, encouraging you to slow down and enjoy that moment, take a breath, relax, just like you would in a real garden.
The thinking
With the The Linnaeus Flower Clock hypothesis we also incorporated the study of Circadian Rhythms into our core concept for a more connected human experience. Circadian rhythms are deep rooted behavioral patterns both mentally and physically and change accordingly throughout a 24-hour cycle. They are natural instances for humans and plants and combining this study with the flower clock concept we have creatively applied the real behaviours of plants across a 24 hour period, aligning to human’s scientific behavioral patterns.
The making
Each element across our creative process; from the concept, to the Illustrator we commissioned, to the technical production methods and sound scapes we designed, has had ‘connection’ and ‘wellness’ at its core. Bringing together four components; Connection, Sensory/Mindfulness, Vision and Hearing, we have formed a beautiful audio/visual harmony which gives the user an uplifting and relaxing experience and makes them feel connected with nature. This has been achieved through natural movement, researched colour coding, breathing exercises, and a uniquely crafted soundscape that ties the circadian rhythm to the ancient musical theory of circle of 5ths.
1984 London commissioned Anna Glover, a multi-award winning artist to traditionally hand paint each of our flower scenes. We wanted to work with Anna as her work resonated perfectly with the project. She crafts beautifully balanced compositions focused around nature and has an ability to capture a tender and sentimental feeling within her art. We brought her artwork to life in digital form, mechanically living and breathing in each digital scene. We did this through 3D processes and games development. We carried out colour exploration research, exploring colour psychology for a more connected artistic experience. The colour palettes had been carefully selected to affect feeling and were composed as ingredients to work artistically for every scene’s specific time of day.
The sound design was carried out in our Berlin studio by Kosmo and Jamie. Each flower is based on the time of day and is synced with a designed soundscape to be the audio for each colour and flower, composed of up to 6 layers of individual sounds. The sounds include two pads (healing frequencies), sounds of nature, bells, tones, and to humanise the connection we added some lightly sung short melodies (by Kosmo) which are paired by its instrumental counterpart. The singing when heard carries the characteristics of a fugue within the hour long soundscape composition. The layers all follow the time zone where the visitor/listener is connecting with In Rhythm With Nature. The users will be embraced by different dark or bright compositions all in correspondence with the circle of 5ths to match the circadian rhythm.
We hope you enjoy taking a moment to disconnect from your daily routine, to immerse in our custom designed nature soundscapes and breathing exercises that aim to bring a moment of calm in challenging times.
