Twelve years later we made a short video about this project, in the first episode of ‘Once Upon A Design’.
The idea
“The Wheel of Life” is a party app idea and a way to have fun with your friends. This app has Buddhism-inspired design based on the ancient infographic “Bhavacakra” (also known as “The Wheel of Life”).
The challenge in designing this app was to find the balance between fun and esotericism. We understand that some people believe in “The Wheel of Life” or the afterlife.
The Approach
In our research, we found an intriguing formula that could calculate a person’s past life by entering the date of birth and name. The results were amazingly accurate and a good description of the person whose character more or less matched that of the person entered. We also tested this algorithm on some friends and found that the results were almost uncanny how accurate they were at times.
When we saw “The Wheel of Life” (aka “Bhavacakra”), a visual representation of the Buddhist view of reincarnation, we were completely sold. The wheel can be translated in a fun and user-friendly way into a unique user interface in an app. Buddhism-inspired design, in other words.
