MFA Thesis | Aesthetics of memories
Designing an immersive experience to explore the aesthetics of shared memories
UNIVERSITY
UID - Umeå Insititute of Design
EXPERTISE
Design Research
Interaction Design
Visual Storytelling
Embodied Interaction
Speculative Design
Prototyping
YEAR
2022
PROGRAM
Interaction Design
| Short Case Study
OURS explores the aesthetics of shared memory, how our individual recollections of a shared moment can differ, and how conversation and embodied interaction can bring those differences into focus. The project asks: What happens when our versions of the same event collide, overlap, or contradict one another?
The goal was to create a poetic, research-driven installation that visualizes shared experiences and invites reflection, not on a single truth, but on the richness of multiple perspectives. The project was exhibited as part of my master’s thesis at Umeå Institute of Design.
PROCESS
This was a solo graduation project, developed from initial research through to concept, prototyping, and final exhibition. The approach combined scientific grounding with poetic experimentation using design to ask questions rather than deliver fixed answers.
Although memory is deeply personal, much of it is relational—linked to others. I began by researching how shared experiences are remembered differently, and how design might make those nuances visible.
LITERATURE ANALYSIS
THEORETICAL GROUNDING
TOPIC FRAMING
To better understand how people reflect on shared experiences, I conducted workshops, interviews, and co-creative sessions. These helped surface emotional dynamics, points of tension, and opportunities for reflection.
INTERVIEWS
WORKSHOPS
CO-CREATION
The final installation invites two participants to physically and verbally locate themselves within a shared memory. As they step closer together, their projected colors begin to merge, symbolizing overlap in their narratives. When they move apart, the colors diverge—highlighting discrepancies and opening space for dialogue. The "bleeding out" of color over time visualizes the memory's fading presence.
INTERACTION DESIGN
SPECULATIVE PROTOTYPING
VISUAL STORYTELLING
The experience was iteratively tested and refined based on emotional clarity, legibility, and participant engagement. The physicality of the interaction became central to how memory was experienced and negotiated.
USER TESTING
SPATIAL PROTOTYPING
FEEDBACK LOOPS
RESULTS
OURS culminated in an immersive installation and accompanying publication that invites people to reflect on the complexity of shared memories—not to reach consensus, but to embrace difference. The work combines conceptual design and embodied interaction to explore how we remember, together.