Cailyn Hansen

metrics.cailynhansen.com

metrics.cailynhansen.com is a digital art project. It was inspired as I was writing my 90 Days Unemployed reflection. For too long, I put my worth into my productivity and success, specifically a measurable form of success. At Duolingo, we had an internal metrics platform. In addition to tracking top-line KPIs, it provided employees tools for robust metric analysis. Anyone could add new tracking events and associated metrics to understand how users used the app.

As a team lead, I was constantly monitoring the efficacy of the experiments my team ran. I relied on this to measure my worth way too much. Every day for four months, the first thing I would do when I woke up was to visit that metrics platform. I would lie in bed and check every running experiment for any variation or statisically significant result. My brain would also be thinking about explanations or iterations to run. (It was yikes to say the least.)

During my intentional unemployment, I commited to reflecting and attempting to unlearn this behavior and desire to capture myself in the metrics I could measure and move. In doing this, I realized it would be a fun (and ironic) bit to produce something at metrics.cailynhansen.com. That idea snowballed and became the digital art project it is now. It begins looking like an enterprise metrics dashboard for your personal life. There's a "Next update in X seconds" countdown in the top right corner.

When the timer expires, it automatically transitions to an animated word-cloud display with various sentences that question the motivation to measure everything in life and reminders the viewer that life isn't always about what we produce or how we can be measured.

After one full cycle, it prompts the user with "Scroll to begin...". As the user scrolls, the sentences dissolve and the background begins to change color. The screen then fully changes as nature elements begin to appear: mountains, grass, bamboo and pine trees. Birds begin to fly overhead. A table with a tea cup and tea pot appear in the grass. A banner comes into appearance with "Breate. Release your reliance on metrics" that slowly pulses.

My hope is to unsettle expectations of what should live at metrics.cailynhansen.com and to invite users into a new way of thinking about value, productivity, and worth. What happens when we allow ourselves to simply breathe and find meaning in the ritual around us and within nature.