Idiot Designs
Idiot Designs
Idiot Designs
Idiot, Designs
DRACU'
Re–Reflective Journaling
Dracu' is a special kind of journal that depicts challenges and aspirations through sequential sketching as a medium. Comics have a clear form of depicting character development. The composition is regarded as an extension of emotions, each panel communicating the balance or tension attributed to the scene.
The clash of visual styles denotes a highly exposed lack of certainty, since the story follows a chase for self security. The quasi-inconsistence displays the fragile causality behind this grey-scale and atonal collection of reflections.
But who is Dracu'? Gheorghe Dracu, in fact, makes his way from my early years of childhood, when my older cousin used to tell me scary stories. The premise implied that a villager was haunted by demons. Over time, Gheorghe started giving into their persuasive demands until he became ill-minded and ultimately a satanic threat to the community. Instead of a crowd of devils, my depiction of self deals with only one. With time, the bizarro pharmakon finds balance with the character through which I portray myself.
OVERTHINKER
Insecure Memes
Overthinker, or Pestegandire is a meme page with over 100 posts about insecurities. The theme is rendered through doodles made with the mouse accompanied by awkward, sad, or wholesome situations described vividly, yet with a pinch of anxiety. This instagram page gained a local popularity within Romanian youths that related most to the need of reassurance from friends and family.
Unexpectedly, under the umbrella of a similar drawing style and trembled atmosphere, I have also developed a story-line-based projection of such emotions. The contrast between performative toughness and apologetic melancholia invokes stress and intensifies dynamism.
El Dansatoré is a digital comic book created for Instagram, blending a parody of the wrestling industry with a deep dive into locker room dynamics between wrestlers. The story follows a character inspired by Lucha Libre masked wrestlers, focusing on his emotional struggle with crippling panic attacks that forced him to retire from wrestling. Years later, El Dansatoré returns for one final appearance in a 30-man battle royal, inspired by the WWE Royal Rumble. Overwhelmed with nerves, things quickly spiral out of control, blending humor with a raw portrayal of anxiety in the world of professional wrestling.
AZUR FOUNDATION
Simulation Exposure Reports
Azur Foundation is a Speculative Design project that encompasses the branch of the private medical system dedicated to simulation over-exposure. This sci-fi world involves the political and moral implications of simulation embedment within society. I borrow the voices of characters to give a tint of subjectivity to each frame picture of this reality. Their voices are later weighed over by a more objective overview written from the perspective of a neurologist.
The story is not about what is wrong and what is right, but rather about transparency and resilience. Regardless of the dystopian technological "advancement", the feelings of despair and segregation from a normal society are not alien to the world we live in today, and can clearly be projected upon bluntly exposed dilemmas.
SELF–EXPOSURES
"One More Time"
The relationship between two instances embodies the nature of one, well-rounded experience of transition and acceptance. At times there have been entire months between the first and second shot on each individual frame; while on other occasions I have just reloaded the film right after exposing it once. Are the shots plain keystones? Perhaps, just the frames of whatever your imagination dwells you into when you are pondering on what could have happened from one photo session to another? Is the story in the contrast of two moments or the vague process between them?
Either way, it is a lot cheaper to do analogue photography like this.
COMMON GROUNDS
Siblings, Individuals, and Friends
Common Grounds, explores the sibling relationship between a child diagnosed with autism and their neurotypical sibling through storytelling, drawing, and collaborative creation. Using co-design methods, the project encourages both children to build a shared narrative, strengthening their understanding of each other.
Through structured workshops, the children engage in storytelling techniques inspired by Carol Gray’s Social Stories and Tsao and McCabe’s Protocol. These methods help bridge differences by providing opportunities for self-expression and collaborative imagination. Elements such as drawing, technical illustration, and narrative-building are integrated to make the process engaging and immersive.
The project also challenges conventional views on autism by positioning neurodivergent children as active creators rather than passive subjects. Common Grounds ultimately seeks to demonstrate how co-design can foster empathy, communication, and deeper familial connections through creative collaboration.
BETONGSTOMMEN
"The Concrete Frame"
Betongstommen, reimagines playground design by integrating risk and autonomy into children’s play. Inspired by Tim Gill’s No Fear: Growing up in a Risk Averse Society, it challenges conventional safety measures and emphasizes the value of calculated risks in child development.
Central to Betongstommen’s design philosophy is the idea that true safety comes not from eliminating all risks, but from equipping children with the ability to assess and manage them. The concrete structures are deliberately varied in scale and complexity, offering different levels of challenge suited to a range of ages and abilities. This layered approach supports developmental progression, allowing children to return to the same space and engage with it in new ways as their skills and confidence grow. By avoiding prescriptive play elements and instead presenting abstract forms, Betongstommen encourages imaginative interpretation—transforming a slope into a mountain, a gap into a canyon, or a ledge into a stage. In doing so, it nurtures not only physical agility but also creativity and resilience, essential traits for navigating the broader world.
Unlike traditional playgrounds with fences and soft surfaces, Betongstommen embraces open-ended play, using concrete to create a landscape of gradual heights, slopes, and modular forms. These features encourage children to explore, climb, and navigate space independently, fostering confidence and problem-solving skills.
By rethinking parental perceptions of safety, Betongstommen aims to balance challenge with security, ensuring a dynamic, engaging environment where children lead their own play experiences.
SHINE & SPARKLE
Gothenburg's 400th Anniversary
Splash and Sparkle Playland is a collaborative project led by Julia Mateo Martinez, Vaishanavi Mungekar, and I aimed at transforming public spaces into inclusive and engaging environments for children. Featured at the Summer Festival in Frihamnen, Gothenburg, to celebrate the city’s 400-year jubilee, the project focused on revitalizing overlooked and underutilized spaces—particularly dark or neglected areas—into vibrant, playful environments.
In partnership with Prototyping Gothenburg and FORMAS, we’ve chosen a unique spot under the bridge in Frihamnen, using its vast walls and proximity to water to integrate light, reflection, and movement into a playful experience. Working with children from IES Krokslätt, we co-design an interactive installation that reflects their creativity.
Hearing Aids Are Cool
"I feel like I am deteriorating"
This graphic design project explores the stigma surrounding hearing aids, especially internalized stigma, within the hard of hearing (HoH) community. Through a combination of qualitative research—including user interviews, social media insights, and field visits to hearing aid centers—this project aims to gather personal stories, analyze the social challenges surrounding hearing aid usage, and reframe these devices as empowering tools. By showcasing user stories, quotes, and insights, the project seeks to inspire confidence in users and encourage broader societal acceptance of hearing aids.
This design project reveals how, in certain instances like wearing hearing aids, children can serve as unexpected sources of inspiration, often demonstrating more openness and acceptance than adults. Through user interviews and observations, it became clear that while many elders internalize stigma around hearing aids—associating them with aging or vulnerability—children tend to approach these devices with curiosity, creativity, and a lack of judgment. Their reactions are often playful, even admiring, seeing hearing aids as cool gadgets or colorful accessories rather than medical devices. This contrast highlights an opportunity within the design: by channeling the imaginative, stigma-free perspective of children, the project aims to reframe hearing aids for older users as empowering tools rather than symbols of loss. Incorporating elements inspired by children’s open-mindedness—such as personalization, storytelling, or intergenerational dialogue—can help shift perception and foster pride and confidence in wearing hearing aids.
PLAqua
3D Printed Aquascaping Ornaments
PLAqua is an innovative aquascaping project that uses 3D-printed ornamental shapes made from polylactic acid (PLA) filament to enhance aquarium plant displays. The tubular structures are designed to provide support and aesthetic value while promoting the health of the plants in the aquarium. PLAqua offers an environmentally conscious solution for aquascaping enthusiasts, helping create visually appealing and sustainable aquatic environments without compromising the well-being of aquatic creatures.
In addition to its environmental benefits, PLAqua enhances the creative possibilities of aquascaping by introducing a new level of design flexibility. The 3D-printed forms can be customized in shape, size, and texture to suit various tank layouts and plant species, encouraging hobbyists to experiment with both structure and composition. These forms not only provide anchor points for plants to grow but also create visual depth and movement within the aquarium, mimicking natural ecosystems in an artistic way. By merging sustainable materials with modern fabrication techniques, PLAqua reimagines aquascaping as both an ecological and expressive practice—making it more accessible, engaging, and aligned with contemporary values of environmental responsibility and aesthetic innovation.
HANDLEDAREN
"The Guide"
Screenplay and Direction: Yana Deliyska
Costumes and Coordination: Sanne Malmquist
Set Design: Georgian Turturica
Actors: Amir Shariati, Nelly Staaf, and Lena Emmertz
Sound Design: Olof Lundbeck
Original Soundtrack: Karolina Beijer
Handledaren ("The Guide") is a short film about self-doubting materialised as self-doubling. I have designed the sets to convey a bridge towards the protagonist's inner duels. The space communicates how detached the main character is from his physical surroundings and how slowly his frustrations and regrets devour him from inside out.
As the set designer, my role is to create a minimalist and symbolic environment that underscores the character’s internal conflict and self-discovery. During the initial research phase, I completed an internship at Koncepteriet, an architecture and interior design firm specializing in sustainable practices. Under the guidance of founder Stephan Hruza, I worked on Koncepteriet’s furniture project and simultaneously received valuable insights for my film project. FilmcentrumSyd has also provided vital support, offering creative direction and essential tools to bring the vision to life.
INVISIBLE EXHIBITIONS
The Vernissage You Were Not Meant to See
Invisible Exhibitions were not curated for the public, but rather for the space they emerged from. Each location crawls into expression with several pieces realised by Rasmus Peterhans and I, featuring Noemi Braun. We started from the environments, shaped them into culture spaces, and inaugurated a vernissage that was meant to happen, not necessarily to be seen.
I mean... just watch the video, please.
BOREDOM
Enter The Frame
Boredom is a intervention that emphasises stillness. I taped the corridor using the anamorphism technique to give off the impression that the tape is perceived as a frame at first glance. By creating this visual illusion, the frame invites the tenants to step into the picture and contemplate simplicity from within. An environment with little obvious substance gains a wider spectrum of meaning. The correlation is directly attached to the viewer, allowing those that pass the threshold to imagine themselves as protagonists of a boring but genuine scenery of their quotidian experience.
This project explores the concept of boredom as an essential mental state that reveals the tension between present reality and past memory. Informed by Andrey Tarkovsky’s reflections on time and its fluidity, the project challenges conventional avoidance of boredom, arguing for its potential as a constructive and meditative experience. By recognizing boredom as a tool for introspection, this work positions boredom not as a state to be feared or avoided, but as a foundation for clarity, focus, and self-discipline. Drawing on Patricia Meyer Spacks’ examination of boredom as a modern luxury and Sandi Mann’s insights on overstimulation, this project investigates how the avoidance of boredom and the constant drive for external engagement can, paradoxically, create mental fatigue, distraction, and anxiety.
