My topic of research last semester was how to create great festival experiences and what are the keys to these experiences. Prototyping and continuing to develop this topic has proved quite hard, as I still have not fully defined the problem that I am trying to solve. There are thousands small scale problems that can be addressed, but grasping the more higher level systematic improvements is harder to wrap my head around.
To start back with the project i first started with some easy sketches of how a festival ground could be organized, and a simple idea of how a bar set-up could be more efficient. I also sketched a festival area, and tried to envision how color coordination could be used to make an area more navigable. Art installations in a festival area are also a really good way of making spaces easier to recognize, and having a space where people can meet and find their friends again. Small considerations like this can have a large impact on how people experience a festival.


After these sketches I realized I wanted to think more about festivals on a systematic level, and try and consider a more conceptual approach. Festival can be extremely diverse, both in content, size, goals and spaces they occupy. My main focus are festivals with a defined festival ground, that is built up and stands for a set amount of time before it is taken down again. There might be some universal truths in how these types of experiences can be organized and planned.
Below is my attempt at trying to organize my thought a bit about how the key stakeholders at a festival interact, and what there key needs are. It is creating a festival where as many as these needs are met, and also in a most efficient way.


This not the longest blogpost, but a first attempt at trying to drive this project further. To end I have made a storyboard with some of the key interactions at a festival, and how one can solve them and make them as good as possible.
