We Want Our Friends Back! (But Which Ones?)
AfterEffects
This project is designed to accompany the New York Times article by the same name written by Alex Williams on March 27th, 2021. The article explores how our relationships and social dynamics have changed as a result of the pandemic.
Inspiration for the animations came mainly from the idea of 'friend circles' and visualizing these relationships like the relationship between atoms (circles, lines and bonds) and the changes these relationships have gone through at different times during the pandemic. The transitions from light blue to black references the different levels of the pandemic. The orange is used to highlight the strongest (in a conceptual and visual sense) element on the page.
Hero image: We Want Our Friends Back! (But Which Ones?)
Spot 1: For many of us the pandemic was a great social winnowing, a pairing down of our widest circles of friends to a skeleton crew of essentials — those who happened to be proximate, available, in our circle of trust.
Spot 2: Friends generally fall into tiers, like those old food pyramid posters in the school cafeteria, except in this case the tiny triangle at the pinnacle is where the good stuff is.
Spot 3: Such loose acquaintances can be categorized as “weak tie” relationships.
Spot 4: According to one research firm… Americans gathered in groups 80% less than we did before the pandemic