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Postphone: Case Study
A Digital-Distancing Event
Why is it that everyone wants to get off their phones, yet people rarely follow through? The current resources available don’t pave the way for maintaining healthy relationships with our devices.
Postphone is a free event local to Philadelphia and accessible by public transit that provides education and resources to those who are struggling to find a way out of constant distraction. By creating a space where people can both learn more about the dangers of digital dependence and create strategies to avoid them, Postphone enters an empty space that needs filling. The event promotes three central ideals — connection with nature, self-reflection, and community interaction — all facets of life that are impeded by digital overdependence. To do this, attendees enjoy live speakers, group activities, and opportunities for guided self-reflection. Furthermore, Postphone takes place at an arboretum, emphasizing the proven benefits of time within a natural space, apart from the call of overbearing devices.¹
In the world of capitalism, ‘free’ digital services are rarely truly free. By being online, the user is, in many ways selling themselves.² Although social media is advertised to connect friends together, its true goal is often to keep users online as long as possible, harvesting our data and attention for digital profit. These systems are intentionally designed to be addictive.³ They cheat people out of sleep, meaningful social connection, creativity, and independence.⁴ When all your time is spent online, the day feels much shorter.
So, how can we escape the grim future that awaits us as dependence on digital tools rises? There are many proposed solutions for battling screen addiction, each with their strengths and weaknesses. Among the most common are (ironically) online tools that block excessive screen use. These can be helpful but may even backfire for skeptical users.⁵ For those with the means, a ‘digital detox’ retreat or vacation is an option, completely cutting oneself off from the digital world for a time, only to return to complete digitality afterward. Neither of these choices, unfortunately, allow people to continue living daily life (digital necessities and all) while also resisting the pull of the attention economy.
Process
I began this project by experimenting with the overall visual language of the event. Posters are often good candidates for visual experimentation, as they often invoke both text and image in a bold way, so I started with a set of three promotional posters to advertise the event. I experimented with creating a ‘pixelated’ image by dividing photos into a grid of squares that could then be moved around to create interruptions within the image.
These disrupting squares symbolize the ways overuse of technology undermines functions like working memory, independence, and intelligence.³ Text is also disrupted by the squares, furthering the theme of holes created by screen addiction. I chose the simple, sans-serif font Lorimer №2 Condensed for display text so it would remain readable even after being covered up with rogue pixels. This font, paired with Times New Roman for body text, aligns the project’s visuals with early internet default fonts. Digitality is further expressed through color, drawing from the classic “No signal” message’s highly saturated blocks of color. The images themselves ground the visuals. They are taken from the New York Public Library’s collection of vintage plant and animal illustrations, once again connecting the project with nature as well as emphasizing the analog focus of the event.
Posters
Any effective event reaches outside the space of the event itself and into everyday life. I found it vital that a set of posters asks even those who don’t attend Postphone to reflect upon their screen use.
I began by brainstorming punchy messages, ideas that would catch passers’ attention by communicating the dire implications of digital overdependence in a concise way. The final messages follow the format of “____minds don’t _____,” emphasizing the impact of overuse on people’s brains, hopefully inciting action within them to attend the event.
My images began with a gray background, but I decided to pivot to colors that create a little less contrast between the illustration and background so text could rest on top of the image more comfortably.
Brochure
The brochure is an effort to keep attendees thinking about their relationship to the digital even after the event. It provides tips and resources that can be applied to the everyday.
After sketching ideas out, I decided to lean into a square-shaped brochure, as I felt it would create a motif connecting to the displaced “pixels” in my images. With a smaller, more type-heavy format, it was necessary to create a similar level of interruption, but not unreadable type as to the posters. To achieve this, I chose to split multiple-syllable section titles in half, lining a corner of each page. Taking advantage of the print format, the front page of the brochure contains die-cut squares, allowing the image on the next page to show through.
Signage
To continue into the more direct world of signage, certain changes had to occur within the stylistic vernacular of Postphone. I felt that covering up letters, even at a large scale, might sacrifice attendee’s ease of navigation. With this in mind, I chose to forgo “pixels” and instead rotate parts of each word to create a vertical offset between syllables on navigational signs.
The welcome sign allowed for a bit more play due to its scale. I tried out including a large format logo on this sign, but the image and logo competed for attention in a distracting way.
Opting for a smaller logo, similar to its placement on my posters, allows for brand recognition without it taking over the sign. Furthermore, I switched the type’s color to cyan rather than green to create a more satisfying contrast with the grassy background.
Translating this visual language into an information-heavy sign, I carried over the square motif into the speaker sign, focusing more on the grid aspect found in the posters. Typography and image call back other visual cues from throughout the project.
I initially tried including an image of the speaker herself, but the modern photography felt too disconnected from the rest of the project. Furthermore, I tried creating an arrow symbol using the background image pixels, but it didn’t quite read the way I wanted it to during user testing.
In the end, the design leaned more toward typography as a visual element. I chose to create rectangular shapes with the type itself to bring it to the forefront of the image, stay consistent visually, and establish a clear hierarchy of information.
Activities
One of the most effective ways to make an event memorable is to involve attendees in the action.⁶ Conversation (whether self-reflective or among community) provides the key to an engaging experience. This is why I found real-life activities to be a vital section of Postphone. Three central deliverables give an idea of what these activities would look like. Firstly, attendees must commit to putting away their phones for the duration of the event. Studies have shown that even being able to see your phone, whether or not you are using it, causes distractibility and even stress.⁷
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Phone Pouch
I designed a simple pouch for storing one’s phone, using just an image and an embroidered version of the logo wordmark. In my own experience, even one small barrier to opening your phone can cause enough pause for considering whether you really want to be using it. The straightforward design of the pouch allows it to serve its purpose without distracting from the goal of the object.
Letter Writing
Whether to a friend, family, or stranger, letter-writing seemed perfect to promote connecting with community outside of social media. Although the instantaneity of the internet is convenient, physical communication has another layer of care connected to it. Letter paper provided by the event not only makes it easier for attendees to visualize further analog communication but also provides the recipient with a piece of fine stationery. The logo wordmark is featured but intentionally unobtrusive to keep focus on the letter itself.
Notebook
Finally, attendees can pick up a notebook to use both at the event and in daily life. In my opinion, notebooks are key to collecting your thoughts. To-do lists, journal entries, reminders, and sketches are only some of the ways a notebook can be used. All of these promote digital distancing by putting tools that have become widely app-ified back into the physical world. I chose to create a design that is specific to the object by embossing the logo image onto a belly band and the wordmark onto the book cover.
Final Thoughts
Postphone has been an informative journey through creating and refining a visual language across formats and objects. With more time, I’d like to expand upon activities, handouts, and an event map to round out the project. Funding and organization would pave the way for the event to occur beyond just a concept. Furthermore, I would be interested to see how pieces like group activities and opportunities for self-reflection would play out with actual participants. This project allowed me to attach my social interests to my design sensibilities, opening the door for further exploration into socially conscious design.
Credits
Designer: Parker Curtis
Instructor: Matt Curtius, Tyler School of Art and Architecture,
Temple University
Source Images: The New York Public Library
Typefaces: OCR-A, Lorimer №2, Times New Roman
References
¹ Morgan, E. R. (2024). Balance screen time with green time: Connecting students with nature (1st Ed.). Corwin, a SAGE Company.
² Pfannebecker, M. and Smith, J. A. (2020). Work Want Work: Labour and Desire at the End of Capitalism. Bloomsbury Academic & Professional.
³ Thiele, L. (2025). Human Agency, Artificial Intelligence, and the Attention Economy: The Case for Digital Distancing. Palgrave Macmillan Cham.
⁴ Odell, J. (2019). How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy. Melville House Publishing.
⁵ Galvan, E. G., & Newman, C. L. (2025). The Digital Detox Paradox: Potential Backfire Effects of Digital Detox Interventions on Consumer Digital Well-Being. American Marketing Association, 44 (4). https://doi.org/10.1177/07439156251322105
⁶ Antchak, V., & Ramsbottom, O. (2020). The Fundamentals of Event Design. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
⁷ Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: The mere presence of one’s own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 140–154. https://doi.org/10.1086/691462
