Myth of the Disappearing Trail- Case Study

A Myth? What? Why?

When asked to come up with a myth for class I came into this idea of overlap between memory, exploration, and belief and incorporated something that I was familiar with. I took the trails in Hatley park and the activity of mountain biking and added a hidden mystery to it. The myth of a trail that would randomly appear and disappear but if found and ridden was the best ride of one's life. I love to hike and mountain bike in the trails surrounding my neighborhood and I find great inspiration in the nature I explore in and I thought why not incorporate this deeper into a creativity aspect of my life and make it a part of my myth.

But..Believable? Evidence?

To make it believable I had to mix realism with just enough enigma around it to give it a shadow of the unknown. I made a storytime TikTok video where I acted like I had just come off the mystery trail. Along with this, my other design details grounded this myth in more ways than one. My hand drawn map gave it authenticity, as if someone was trying to find the trails and drew a map to assist in the endeavor. The “closed trail” sign with no explanation from Hartley Parks made it feel official and my last asset, a photoshopped strava post that showed a ride that just stopped mid way through, gave it another depth that made it feel like it could really exist. People trust maps, Strava data, and social media posts and their solid “proof” instead of what actually exists in reality which is a scary reality of our society.

Artifacts

Release

TikTok

I released my myth through TikTok because it’s the perfect platform for things that blur fiction and fact. I tried to keep my tone casual but also believable like someone just sharing something exciting that just happened in their life. The timing felt natural on my end because of past content that I have posted, it fits in with the other adventures that I have gone on and posted about. I truly expected no interaction on my video because of the fact of my story along with the small number of followers that I have.

Worlds Response

To my surprise two random people commented on my post saying “Game trails! The animals make the best paths! I’ve had this happen to me!! I’ve had some of the best rides on them.” and the other one “glad you had a good time”. I got 26 likes and 371 views on the video. Stava didn’t produce any feedback or traction which I wasn't surprised about due to the types of followers on there. These were the perfect reactions because it eluded that they didn’t dismiss it as a story, they rationalized it, which meant they believed enough to explain it away.

Reflection

Was the response different than expected?

Yes, I didn't expect people to care or respond to my video in any way. I expected a few liked on it but not any comments.

What does the response tell us?

It shows people just needed a gap and they filled in the blanks themselves because people love having an opinion and inserting it wherever they can. They wanted to be apart of something and sharing their thoughts.

Relevance and skills of project?

This project reflects a blend of brand storytelling, audience insight and design strategy. My outside of the box ideas and creativity is shown in this myth and the way I executed it. I used different aspects of design to execute the believability of my myth and adapted to audience reactions and interests. I built a strong story that felt lived in by a real person using local context to keep it feeling rooted in reality and I explored how digital media shapes other aspects of design believability.

What I could have done different?

If I had the chance to re-release this myth I would want to build it out more so I could have a larger audience to find it and create their own thoughts around this story. A Reddit post, local news article or even hidden QR codes around Hartley pointing to the myth website would be a good way to build it into a bigger audience. 

Victoria Mock      Email: Work@vrmdesign.com      Instagram: Vrm_design