Refugene

Refugene as a whole exists to remind us where we come from, and this brand is for anyone that’s a refugee or a descendant of refugees who also wants a connection to their heritage. This brand is a tribute to the toughness in refugees: Our brand will honor refugees through our products, and the Refugene community will carry on a blended culture.

Vision: an everlasting legacy for refugees and their descendants. 

Mission: build a monumental clothing brand to leave the legacy of refugees shirt by shirt, story by story, season after season until every refugee+descendant has a Refugene shirt in their closet.

Core Values: be great and grateful · get there or die trying · have an infectious respect for legacy · remember that we’re in this together 

Why? Refugees made monumental sacrifices for the survival and the success of their lineage; we believe it's crucial for their descendants to always remember that that’s where we came from. 

For the focus of THIS project, Refugene’s aim is to connect second generation Vietnamese Americans to their heritage. The end goal is to preserve the Vietnamese culture for future generations. The answer as to how to achieve this goal is through creating conversation between modern Vietnamese Americans and refugees, with the help of digital applications as well as apparel designs.

THE BREAKDOWN

Application Features: The Refugene application features a migration map, a world tImeline, a news feed for social interaction, and personal tImeline, journal, video and photo sharing.

Migration Map: A visual and interactive census of the Vietnamese population. The yellow dots are animated to show the migration for the year the user moves the slider to.

World Timeline: Is a collection of every users’ archive of public journals, videos and photos. The letters on the top of the double helix are the first initial of the user. The number in the middle is the hour, and the numbers on the bottom are the minutes. Lastly, the slider at the bottom controls the hour.

News Feed: Users can interact with one another by viewing updates, adding content they like into their archive, and commenting on matters that appeal to them. To access these properties, the contents must be expanded.

Timeline: The top letters on the double helix are J (journal), V (video) and P (photo). The gold strands are newly added strands that represent updated content.

Journal: Users can record and create a collection of their own thoughts. Their content can be kept private, or shared for the public and added onto the world timeline.

Videos + Photos: Users can upload their own videos and photos, or they can add content from other users to their own collection.

Connections: Houses connections the user knows as well as suggesting social connections with other users.

Apparel: The aim of the shirts is to have people question the content of the designs and to generate conversation. For instance, “Tough as Nails” explains why and how Vietnamese people own the multi-billion dollar nail industry. “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” is the song that signaled Vietnamese people affiliated with America to escape Vietnam, when the war was lost.