Cosmic Time Capsule

In the 1970s, NASA launched the Golden Record—a time capsule of Earth’s sounds and images—into space. Inspired by this, my Capstone is a personal version: a record of my life as a design student in 2024, to be sent into space. It features five meaningful photos from me, along with reflections and stories from this contributors—some strangers, others lifelong friends—each writing in their native or second language.

The heart of the project lies in layout and color. I chose a clean, simple structure to let each story breathe. The dominant blue represents the Earth—a grounded, living blue. The screenshots, captured via Google Maps, reflect the surface textures of different territories—how the Earth’s skin shifts across individuals, cities, countries, and continents. That visual contrast is, to me, pure magic—and I’ve worked to preserve that essence throughout the thesis.

The project is also influenced by the Earth Archive, which aims to preserve landscapes before they’re altered by climate change. My goal is to record these fragments of life so they can live on, preserved in these pages for generations to come. I am doing everything I can to send this time capsule into space, so that one day, even if we are long gone, a piece of who we were–our stories, our Earth—might be remembered and cherished for eternity. Not everyone said yes—but those who did trusted me with a glimpse of their world, thank you. This is a celebration of memory and connection—a living archive of what it means to be human.