Interaction - Bachelor

Side B

Side B is an interactive installation that invites people to slow down and truly listen. It combines vinyl and interactive visuals to create a multi-sensory experience. In a fast, streaming-driven world, Side B reconnects music with emotion, ritual, and presence.

Muhamad Daniel Bin Rashid

Close-up of a vinyl record spinning on a turntable with the needle playing the grooves.

WHY SIDE B?

Side B began as a product-focused exploration of vinyl as a retro-futuristic listening device. As the project evolved, I realised the more urgent story was not about designing another consumer product but rather about making sense of our shifting relationship with music.

Today, we listen through playlists with songs recommended by algorithms. Songs are shuffled, skipped, and clipped into short viral moments. Albums lose their shape. The emotional journey that artists create; the track order, the pacing, the quiet in between, often gets lost.

Side B responds to that shift. It doesn’t try to fix things with features. Instead, it creates a space to slow down and reconnect with the act of listening. It brings together vinyl, visuals, and movement to ask a simple question. What does it mean to really listen today?

how it was made

Album art of Decide by Djo

Decide by Djo

I picked this album because it felt right for the kind of experience I wanted to create. From its viral spread to its layered themes, it gives me the perfect playground to explore how music is consumed, felt, and remembered today.

Thematic alignment – Decide talks about change, anxiety, and feeling disconnected just like how music listening today feels broken up and impersonal. Joe Keery (as Djo) explores who he is and how digital life affects that. This fits perfectly with Side B’s goal to question how we connect with music now.

End of Beginning of it all – The song End of Beginning blew up on TikTok two years after the album came out. It became famous on its own, without the rest of the album. That shows how people often hear one song out of context not the full story the artist intended.

Rich sound & visuals – The album’s mix of synth-pop and alt-pop creates dreamy, layered sounds. It is perfect for visuals like projections, glitches, and movement-reactive effects.

Bonus COLLATERALS

Muhamad Daniel Bin Rashid

Daniel is an aspiring UI/UX designer majoring in Interaction Design and is driven by a love for crafting digital experiences that are not only beautiful, but thoughtful and deeply human. He is eager to grow through collaboration, learning from others, and creating design work that truly matters.