Hocus Pocus


Design plausible outcomes by interpreting misinformation


Our daily lives are so saturated with media in various forms, such as televisions, computers, smartphones, and other screens. With all of this information presented to us, not all of it is as accurate as we think. While the emergence of misinformation is inevitable, avoiding it can be challenging. But by understanding how such information and tactics are generated, we might become less vulnerable to them. We must keep our emotional response to such stories in check, and approach what we see and hear rationally and critically.

Hocus pocus is a traditional utterance of magicians upon performing a trick. It is used to distract the audience from noticing the sleight-of-hand trick being performed. It's pseudo-Latin (e.g. lorem ipsum). Similarly, falsehoods are also designed to fool and distract you from the truth with well-curated information.

Creating a hoax requires both research and creativity. Information should attract attention, serve the viewer's interests, and lead them to believe it. In the process of creating this work, you'll learn how to look for information more carefully, and in turn, not be misled and fall for falsehoods.


Group Projects

  1. Sleep Research Institute

  4. Annex

  5. MAU

  6. Aora Studios

  7. Cimara

  8. Plusone

  9. Umari


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Sleep Research Institute
2022
S2T1



Team members’ response


Induce Visual Graphics
 Hellen Yu


VIV™ Sleep Enhancement Sparkling Water
Tyler Wong

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
 Xu Chongming




Research summary

Sleep Less, Sleep Healthy


SRI was first founded by Kleitman’s students in the 90s to help the military get more efficient at rest. We have engineered the outside world so much, but for all our engineering, so many of us are still sleeping inefficiently and not working at our best. It is time to turn that engineering around and focus on ourselves, most notably our sleep, and gift ourselves the superpowers that sleep endows.