DH | Immersive Experiences for Digital Heritage

I first learned about Nüshu a year ago, in the autumn. I was scrolling through Weibo and came across a description of this beautiful script. Back then, I shared the introductory video and commented, “graceful” and “independent”. By then, I hadn’t imagined that it would become the theme of my project this time.

I created a website for 女书 Nüshu in Adobe XD to tell its past and present.

[Prototype of the website]

🎐 Why I chose Nüshu

I’m a female. I appreciate this type of beautiful character created and only spread among females. It’s meaningful, endangered, and beautiful in shape, which makes it suitable for different layouts.

In recent years, it has gained traction on social media platforms, capturing the attention of many. People have begun to recognize its current value, exploring new ways to utilize it, both spiritually and aesthetically.

🎐 What is Nüshu

[A brief Intro | More Info will be shown in the following sections]

🎐 Working Progress

I first decided the sections I wanted to include on my website. Then, I used the online Nüshu generator to get all the characters I wanted for my cover, labels, and decoration uses.

After that, I created the front page of the website by assembling the characters based on the structure of the sections.

It’s a phone website, so it can be scrolled down. And while users are scrolling down the screen, they will encounter three “scenes” along the way.

In Scene 1, I depict the origin, value, and legacy of Nüshu, positioning them as “willow leaves” on the branch of Nüshu. They sway freely in the gentle breeze, symbolizing freedom of expression. The oppression of women in ancient times, patriarchal society, and the persecution of Nüshu during the Cultural Revolution are reflected as the inverted image of willow branches in the icy lake, distant and contrasting.

In Scene 2, I chose a gradient background from white to pink to convey a sense of warmth and strength among women. This power can break the cold oppression and help women discover their self-worth.

Scene 3 emerged unexpectedly as a result of my creative process. I integrated audio elements related to Nüshu, including songs, at the bottom. Visitors to the website can listen to them, either as standalone tracks or as background music while browsing.

I like this page the best among all the pages, but there are two limitations. Firstly, the words on it are clickable for users to navigate to other pages, but it’s not very apparent. Professor Chen suggested transforming it into a “flowing font,” but due to time constraints, I haven’t attempted this cross-platform experiment yet. Secondly, the songs on this page cannot loop, meaning that once I click on other buttons, the music automatically stops playing. I haven’t found a solution to this issue yet.

Users can go to any page as they want by tapping the characters on the front page or the menu buttons on any page.