Literary inspiration

I’ve always been drawn to the idea of parallel worlds and shifted realities — not exactly in a science fiction sense, but rather in the quiet dissonance between what is and what could be, feeling of not belonging.

Inspired by Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, I started to explore how these concepts could take shape visually. It felt like a natural fit for the pattern design course — patterns rely on repetition but the changes within those repetitions are what make them interesting — small shifts make a big difference. That repetition, slightly shifted, became a perfect metaphor for parallel realities: things appear the same, but something is always just a little off.

Key symbols

I selected key symbols from 1Q84 that, for me, captured its atmosphere and main ideas.
— The staircase represents a liminal space — a portal between worlds.
— The two moons mark the rupture between the real and the unreal worlds.
— And the butterfly, a recurring motif, evokes themes of memory, childhood, and the transience of life.

Mood board/References

In my mood board and references, I explored various ways to visually represent the themes of parallelity, duality, mirroring, and distortion — drawing from both contemporary design and classic examples like Maurits Cornelis Escher's optical illusion staircase and Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Mirror.

Narrative to Pattern

At this stage, I experimented with visualizing the key symbols I had selected, using simple geometric shapes. My goal was to keep the visuals clean while leaving room for interpretation — so the two moons might also resemble butterfly wings, and the glitch could double as stairs.

First pattern designs

By stripping away the unnecessary, I was left with the core visual elements — squares and circles — representing the staircase and the moons. The square structure of the pattern became a symbol for the upside-down worlds and the transitions between them.

Revised pattern concept

I received valuable feedback from the course professor: what if the pattern shifted slightly each time? What if the staircase squares appeared on the moon’s edge, or the moon disrupted the stairs? I realised that these small disruptions didn’t just make the design more dynamic — they reinforced my core concept of shifting realities. Each rapport , with its subtle changes, became its own version of a parallel world.

Conceptual reframing

In the final stage of the project, I took the inspiration from 1Q84 further and reimagined it (since the rave path was unfortunately not accepted) as the foundation for a speculative science conference on polyverse futures — exploring themes like migration and governance. I shifted the title from Murakami’s 1Q84 (while also drawing on dystopian ideas from Orwell’s 1984) to 2X84, to reflect the speculative character of this conference on hypothetical futures while still staying connected to present-day issues.

Final pattern implementation

To stay hydrated across dimensions.

Two sides — two realities.

ID badge for crossing speculative borders.

Internal currency card for best exchange rates in conference Mensas and merchandise shops of both worlds.

Advertising poster to gather all Berlin alt indie kids from the raves.

Final collection