The Verge “The Year Twitter Died” package
In collaboration with The Verge, we designed and art directed a special digital package, TheYearTwitterDied, exploring the rise and fall of Twitter and audaciously marking 2023 as the official year of its demise.
Aiming to capture the chaos within the platform and the company itself, type and other content wiggles and breaks, reinforcing a sense of imminent implosion.
The site’s landing page features a baroque scene by JamesKerr populated by the most infamous denizens of Twitter. A hidden key provides the reference behind each character.
A “chaos button” allows users to turn the site’s animation on and off — ramping up the chaos or dialing it down completely. Audio created specifically for the project can also be turned off, on, and way up.
A series of articles examines Twitter’s impact as a tool of mass harassment, a once idealistic workplace, and a news cycle accelerator.
To further support the site’s chaotic feel, each article utilizes artwork from a unique illustrator: CharlesDesmarais, ErikCarter, and RuiPu.
Like the site’s homepage, these articles are populated by wonky display type, off-kilter images and notorious Twitter characters.
The site also includes a tweet archive, an effort to capture the funniest, weirdest, and most memorable Twitter posts “before the platform completely burns down.”
The archive displays tweets in random order, and can be viewed as single scroll reminiscent of the Twitter experience or in a more condensed grid. The tweets include much of the functionality of a standard post, including image galleries and video.
Editors: Kevin Nguyen And Sarah Jeong
Illustration: James Kerr, Erik Carter, Charles Desmarais, Rui Pu
The Verge Senior Creative Director: William Joel
The Verge Creative Director: Kristen Radtke
Engineer: Graham Macaree
Editorial Operations: Kara Verlaney
Engagement Editor: Esther Cohen
Copy Editors: Liz Hickson, Adia Watts
Sound Design: Andrew Marino
Fact-Checker: Becca Laurie
Editor-In-Chief: Nilay Patel
Publisher: Helen Havlak