Drifting Threads
Used program: Figma, Google AI Studio
The visualization unfolds across three interconnected perspectives, each revealing a different dimension of how threads drift through my day:
Research: Collecting the Threads
I captured my mobile screen time logs to track which apps I used and for how long, revealing the digital threads that weave through my day. Browser histories exposed the websites I visited, the searches I made, and the content I consumed, tracing how my attention drifted from one topic to another. I photographed the physical locations I moved through, documenting where my body anchored itself throughout the day. Together, these datasets formed a comprehensive record of my movements, both visible and invisible.
What emerged was not a neat timeline of intentional actions, for example, a sprawling web of behaviors: checking KakaoTalk for three minutes, browsing Instagram for 39 seconds, working in Figma for over an hour, searching for an artist's name, visiting a venue page, glancing at the calendar. Each action existed as a discrete thread, yet when layered together, they revealed the fragmented, multidirectional nature of how I actually spend my time. These traces became the foundation for the three-layered visualization that follows, allowing me to transform raw data into a spatial, temporal, and relational map of drifting threads.
My mobile usage history and the various programs running in the background.
Spatial Threads — Layers of Distance
The first layer maps actions according to their physical and perceptual proximity. Arranged as a grid-like puzzle, each action is positioned based on how far it exists from my immediate reality: what I do directly occupies the closest row; content I consume through a screen sits one layer below; Korean content filmed abroad drops another layer down; and foreign content shot in foreign locations drifts even further. This structure reveals how my day is not confined to a single location but radiates outward through nested layers of distance. Some threads anchor in my physical space, while others stretch across digital and geographic boundaries.
08/24/2024 ~ 08/25/2025This visualization captures a 24-hour stream of consciousness from the day before my birthday through my birthday itself. It traces how my thoughts and actions unfolded across this personally significant timeframe, revealing the spatial dispersion of my attention and behavior during these two days.
Temporal Threads — The Scatter of Time
The second layer traces these actions along a 24-hour timeline, exposing how my behaviors branch, diverge, and bleed into one another. Rather than moving linearly toward a goal, my day splinters in multiple directions: starting one task, leaking into another, veering off into something entirely unrelated. This temporal map captures the unpredictable, multidirectional nature of human behavior, revealing how far threads stretch from their origin, how they overlap mid-action, and how rarely they stay tethered to a single intention. The visualization asks: how far do these threads drift, and where do they lead when left unguided?
Relational Threads — Clusters and Drift
The final layer reorganizes the timeline into a network of relationships, grouping actions by their proximity to a central "main event." Some threads cluster tightly around this anchor, forming dense knots of related behaviors. Others drift further out: continuous sequences that tangentially connect, or isolated actions that remain entirely detached. By categorizing threads into sections (main events, sequential flows, unrelated drifts), this layer reveals how behaviors entangle, overlap, and separate into an organic, non-linear graphic form. The result is a map not of what I intended to do, but of how actions actually unfold: scattered, layered, and constantly drifting between connection and dispersion.
Together, these three perspectives form a tapestry of drifting threads. It is a visual inquiry into the quiet chaos of daily life, where human behavior resists singular purpose and instead moves in overlapping, unpredictable patterns that stretch across space, time, and meaning.
Another Thread: Meeting the Future
The same three-layered structure was applied to a different day, revealing how the methodology adapts to capture entirely distinct narratives of drifting threads.
09/15/2024 This visualization documents the day I met my future mother-in-law during Chuseok, a day woven with anticipation, ritual, and unexpected detours.
The day began with a clear intention: to meet her near my boyfriend's neighborhood cafe, exchange Chuseok gifts, and visit wedding venues together. But like all days, the plan immediately began to unravel. The cafe we chose was full, forcing us to relocate to another spot. This small disruption set the tone for the rest of the day: a series of actions that drifted between the formal (selecting a wedding hall) and the mundane (searching for a new cafe, checking messages, glancing at my phone).
Temporal Scatter of Expectation and Reality
The timeline for this day exposes the gap between intention and execution. What was meant to be a linear progression (meet, gift, venue, decision) fragmented into overlapping threads: moments of conversation bleeding into phone checks, the search for a cafe interrupting the flow, small delays and diversions pulling the day in unexpected directions. The visualization captures how even significant life events resist singular focus, branching into tangential actions that drift far from the original goal.
Relational Clusters Around a Main Event
In this version, the "main event" is clear: meeting my future mother-in-law and choosing a wedding venue.
Yet when mapped relationally, the day reveals how much of my behavior existed at the periphery of this central thread. Some actions clustered tightly around the main event (gift preparation, venue research, direct conversation), while others drifted into unrelated territories (browsing unrelated content, responding to messages, moments of distraction).
The resulting map shows that even on a day defined by a singular purpose, human behavior refuses to stay contained, constantly leaking into other threads that entangle, overlap, and disperse across the edges of intention.