ModernY
Syrus Mow
ModernY is an educational mobile app that provides users with an understanding of how modernization changed people’s understanding of the supernatural creatures of Yokai folklore since the Edo Period. ModernY provides information about the three most prominent Yokai: Tanuki, Kappa, and Oni, and how their understandings have changed because of modernization.
To achieve this goal, ModernY’s content focuses primarily on two parts, a timeline that spans from the Edo period (1603–1868) to the modern day, that visualizes how the understanding of these three Yokai have changed and developed over time, and as well as clickable cards that incorporate texts founded on information from both scholarly articles and historical artifacts. Throughout this app, users are not only greeted with fun illustrations relating to the content that they are consuming, but they can also select various parts of the app to learn in-depth about aspects that interest them most.
Additionally, each of these cards talks about one of the three Yokai with their respective imagery and contextual information, such as a geographical map that highlights the important locations of belief for that specific Yokai within Japan. Within this section of the app, users are greeted with an address, a summary of that location, and real-life images of that location.
Through the combination of diverse learning platforms and interesting and fun imagery, ModernY’s goal is to educate and raise awareness of how modernization has drastically affected one part of Japanese heritage and culture: Yokai within folklore.