ELYSIUM,
Paradise is not a place, it is the act of becoming.

Client

Lunar Gala

Year

2025

Role

Co-head of Web, Creative Technologist

Visit site

Lunar Gala (LG) is Pittsburgh's largest annual fashion show. Its website features the model lines, members, and ticketing all in line with this year's visual identity: Elysium.

I creatively directed and facilitated cross-functional collaboration in a team of 4 designers and 5 devs. Lead concept design, interaction, and UI | UX for Pittsburgh's largest fashion show's website.

I designed and developed the site's home page GLSL particles to create a library of different particle behaviors to fit with this year's identity, and the UI motion.

Timeline

6 months
Role

Co-head, Creative Technologist
Tools

Three.js
Tools

GLSL
Tools

Touchdesigner
Tools

After Effects
Tools

UX | UI
Tools

Figma
Contributors

Suyeon Cha
Contributors

Suanna Zhong
Contributors

Margaret He
Contributors

Xiao Yuan
Contributors

Serena Cai
Contributors

Kaitlyn Ng
Contributors

Lucy Wang

How can particle motion encapsulate each act?

2025 was the first year LG introduced the concept of "acts" to the show. Each act encapsulates a different part of your journey, and I aimed for the particle system to reflect that essence. Emergence stems from the center, and ripples outwards like veins of life, Blossom radiates florally with calm fair curves, and Embrace creates a soft hug and communicates one coming 'full circle' at the end of the journey.

Act I: Emergence

The dawn of your journey, brimming with hope, passion, and light. Untouched by the world's challenges, yet poised to embrace it all.

Act II: Blossom

In the early steps of your journey, you flourish and grow. You conquer the new horizons, and you can see yourself blooming into the person you have always wanted to be.

Act IV: Embrace

You have walked far, encountering all the pitfalls and flaws of the world, therefore exposing the flaws of you. You have come to realize there is never an end to your journey, but you have come to embrace it.

● GLSL Process

I learned how to get the particle system started from Yuri Artiukuh on YouTube. Once I got a simple ring up and running, I started digging into the Fragment shaders and line by line altering the operations and values to explore what behaviors were possible. Once I logged what I could do, such as changing speed, scale, and number of radii the particles loop around, I could get more intentional with how the motion acted.

Integration into the main site was the biggest challenge oddly enough. Getting the 3js scene to be interactive while maintaining the UI interactivity in the DOM caused conflicts. At this point launch date was approaching fast, and a lot of back and forth with Cursor AI helped it pull through. I found vibecoding to be of little help in 2025 for GLSL, but as of 2026 it can produce some somewhat sucessful visuals to get started.

● Instagram Launch Promo