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loadSound("satellite")

Weiying Ma
January 19, 2023
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loadSound (“satellite”) is a campaign project for NASA Orbit Pavilion, a sound installation that produces an innovative ‘soundscape’ experience representing the movement of the International Space Station and nineteen Earth Science satellites. I used coding to generate a series of patterns based on the sound information of these satellites and applied them to its visual identity system. The project integrated the visual element into this sound installation, resulting in providing viewers with a remarkable sensory experience and, at the same time, highlighting the art and science aspects of this installation.



NASA Orbit Pavilion is a sound installation that produces an innovative "soundscape" experience representing the movement of the International Space Station and 19 Earth Science Satellites. The challenge was how to make the audience experience the sound by looking at the visual images when there is no sound, and how I was able to achieve and accomplish it through patterns and typographies. The idea I came up with was to use javascript to create a series of visual patterns based on the sound information of these 19 NASA satellites, and applied them to its visual identity system. By doing this, I want to provide audiences with a sensory experience that when they are looking at the images, they are hearing something because of the vibration of the patterns, even there aren't any sounds. The balance and harmony through typographies, images, and patterns would engage the audience. And they would be pulled in, and sense sounds.


The software I used was P5.js. This is a generative tool for creative coding. To generate the visual patterns based on sounds, I first collected the sound information of the satellites and inserted a sound file into P5.js. The volume of the sound controlled the size of the generated shapes, procedure textures, and motion. When the sound starts, the size, form, and amount of the shape would be affected by the amplitude and frequency of the sound. Together they would show different styles of the forms based on the different sounds of the satellite.






The project integrated the visual element into this sound installation, resulting in providing viewers with a remarkable sensory experience and, at the same time, highlighting the art and science aspects of this installation. This is the first time I applied the generative design to the brand aspect, which is very exciting and engaging.

Weiying Ma

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