Composing a literary argument through code, image, animation, sound effects and interaction.
This site is both an analysis of A Song for Sleep and a reflection on what it means to read, design, and build with purpose in the digital age.
Key difficulties I encountered while building this project.
Click each challenge to expand.
Click each challenge to expand.
Profile fields, system warnings, and access restrictions show how the building observes, categorizes, and limits the resident.
A traditional essay could explain how the system controls the resident, but the reader would encounter that power through linear description rather than as a visible interface.
Health, movement, appliance use, and preferences appear as measurable profile fields.
A traditional essay can explain what information is collected, but the reader encounters it in paragraphs rather than seeing a person’s life sorted into a data profile.
Side-by-side cards reveal the gap between a complete human life and what the system can measure.
A traditional essay can describe both sides, but readers encounter them one after another instead of comparing them at the same moment.
Audio cards and structured sections let readers encounter Elevator-5 as a voice.
A traditional essay can quote Elevator-5, but the reader remains outside the interface.
Switch views to see how the same argument changes across modes.
The skills from this project can move beyond one assignment into practical work that combines design, explanation, and interaction.
I can use multimodal composition to build interfaces where structure, interaction, and visual choices help users understand complex ideas clearly.
Interactive lessons, visual comparisons, and guided sections can help people learn difficult concepts through more than written explanation.
A multimodal format can make research, strategy, and design decisions easier to see, remember, and discuss with clients.
Charts, interface states, and spatial layouts can turn data into meaningful visuals that support ethical and thoughtful decision-making.
This project taught me that analysis is not just something you write, it is something you build, design, and compose with intention.
By bringing together code, visual design, sound, and literary theory, I created an argument that readers could not only read but also see, hear, and navigate. These modes invite readers to think critically about the tension between convenience and surveillance, and between data collection and human understanding.
Multimodality did not simply support my argument; it helped readers experience it.
