Course: Final Bachelor Project
Period: Sep 2025 - Jan 2026
Coaching: Regina Bernhaupt

Project Goal:
This project introduces an improved method for expressing meaningful festival experiences in personal memory evoking artefacts based on passively acquired data from festival visitors to encourage immersion and social connection. It expands on my previous project by evaluating and iterating on the preliminary concept trough user testing and involving experts in the process. The result is an artefact that expresses information more concrete, is controllable and customizable for festival organisers and resolves logistical challenges.

Process:
I started with a user test to evaluate the previous iteration, using the preliminary pipeline where data was turned into physical artefacts by generative AI. Trough semi-structured interviews and group discussions, I concluded that the artefacts were too abstract and lacked emotional expression which complicated interpretation and storytelling.

Therefore, generative AI was replaced for human designers, and building-block elements were introduced. Every building block directly represents a meaningful aspect of the individual experience. It uses recognizable objects and expressive shapes based on an exploratory workshop. The elements combined formed a single personal souvenir. The building blocks can also be designed and printed prior the festival, making the product more feasible.

A proof of concept was conducted, with three implemented features: favourite artist, activity level compared to the rest of the crowd, and person spent most time with. Participants indicated strong recognition of their experience when interacting with the memento, and it functions both as a storytelling tool and an auto-topographical memento.