Case Study

Leaving a Digital Trace

Connecting physical experiences with personalised digital memories

Institution

UCL × Wellcome Collection

Role

Experience Designer

Discipline

Installation

Project

HCI - Academic Collaboration

Project Overview

A multi-sensory installation exploring how moments of presence beyond the experience itself.

The Wellcome collection - 'Forest Bathing Room'

Problem

People experienced prolonged screen fatigue and sensory overload diminishing presence and quiet reflection.

Goal

To create a calming, screen-free installation that encourages stillness, presence, and gentle connection.

Constraints

• No screens or overt digital interfaces
• Interaction must be optional and unobtrusive
• The quiet, contemplative atmosphere must be preserved

Concept

The concept enhances the multi-sensory qualities of the Forest Room while preserving its calm, screen-free atmosphere.
It explores subtle actions that allow visitors to acknowledge meaninful moments.

User Journey Sketches

These sketches represent a visitor’s journey through the Forest Bathing exhibit. The experience is designed to move from orientation to immersion with minimal instruction and maximum agency.

Pre-and Post-Experience Touchpoints

Before entering the installation, visitors receive brief guidelines via a physical kiosk. After leaving, they can continue the experience through a mobile app revisiting moments, capturing reflections and optionally sharing them.

Information Architecture —Sitemap defining content categories, contributor pages and submission journeys.

Welcome

Visitors are introduced to the Tranquility Experience and invited to opt in to taking a personal reflection home.

Start experience

A single action begins the experience, ensuring participation is deliberate before entering the space.

Name & email

Visitors enter their name and email to personalise the experience and receive a private post-visit link—no account or ongoing commitment required.

Confirmation & clicker

A clicker number is assigned, linking the kiosk setup to moments of calm captured inside the installation.

Post-Experience Reflection App

The app extends the experience through reflection - allowing visitors to revisit moments and capture them in a personal way.

Revisiting the experience

Visitors can return to a quiet moment from the installation and reconnect with how it felt, without replaying the experience in full.

Capturing a personal perspective

Visitors are invited to write a short reflection, focusing on a moment that felt most calming or meaningful.

Sharing and collective memory

Reflections can be shared with others, allowing visitors to explore different perspectives and recognise shared moments of presence.

Post-Experience Reflection App

A lightweight companion that allows visitors to revisit and reflect after leaving the installation.

Entry / Invitation

Visitors receive a personal link inviting them to revisit their Tranquility experience.

Reflection

Visitors revisit a moment and write a short personal reflection.

Complete & share

Visitors complete their reflection and can choose to share it or continue exploring the exhibition.

Designing for quiet capture

Moments are captured through subtle, screen-free interactions embedded within the space—preserving immersion while enabling personal reflection.

3D visualisation of embedded capture points

Visual capture points

Discreet cameras embedded in the space allow visitors to capture a still visual moment using a handheld clicker—without introducing screens or overt prompts.

3D visualisation of embedded capture points

Ambient sound capture

Directional speakers and microphones capture the ambient soundscape of the installation, preserving the atmosphere of the moment rather than a single focal interaction.

Non-recorded immersion

Some areas of the installation remain entirely non-recorded, offering visitors uninterrupted presence and reinforcing that capture is optional, not expected.

Outcome & Reflection

Wellcome Collection expressed interest in piloting the concept with real visitors, although implementation was never confirmed.

The project strengthened my approach to designing experiences beyond screens, exploring how technology can support presence, reflection and meaningful interactions within physical spaces.

Wellcome Collection expressed interest in piloting the concept with real visitors, although implementation was never confirmed.

The project strengthened my approach to designing experiences beyond screens, exploring how technology can support presence, reflection and meaningful interactions within physical spaces.