A Conversation With Coral

Project Type
Branding Exploration and Experiential Design

Medium
Multimedia

Year
Fall 2024 - Winter 2025

Coral reefs face escalating threats, from ocean acidification to bleaching, yet they are often seen as distant or abstract. This project reimagines coral as a living, resilient entity with a distinct identity, strength, and quiet wisdom. Through a speculative interview and magazine, a small brain coral sculpture, and an immersive audio experience, the work invites viewers to connect emotionally with coral. By creating a multi-sensory narrative, the project encourages empathy and inspires action toward coral conservation.

The Task

Develop and execute a thesis project. Conduct contextual research, produce creative work and experiments, complete research-based assignments, organize project tasks, and create a final product and exhibition.

The Concept

A Conversation With Coral reimagines coral as a “client”, using branding, publication design, sculpture, and audio to give it a voice to express its resilience, beauty, and the urgent threats it faces. The brain coral sculpture personifies coral, creating a tangible connection for viewers. The magazine, inspired by Cosmopolitan and The New York Times, features original articles and visual storytelling to immerse readers, specifically those in younger generations, in coral’s world. At the project’s core is an interview where coral “speaks” for itself. By translating coral’s story into a multi-sensory experience, this project encourages viewers to see coral as both an ecosystem and a creature worth protecting. It reimagines how we communicate environmental issues, turning data into dialogue, science into storytelling, and advocacy into an intimate, human-centered experience.

Full Presentation