Play + Pedagogy

Designing for Discovery: Utilising the power of play to harness the audience’s engagement, promoting active learning.  Through ‘low floor, high ceiling’ interactions, play becomes a pedagogical tool,  enabling them to become empathetic participants and have agency within their own learning.

How do you make a flat, digital archive meaningful to a child? I deconstructed untouchable maritime data into a suite of tactile, “phygital” totems. By creating a physical-to-digital interaction model, I gave users agency over their own discovery and context to the informaiton given, proving that sensory rituals significantly increase information retention and digital engagement.

I wanted to move beyond the data-driven campaign of traditional social advocacy to a more empathy-heavy understanding. By asking: Where would you lay your head?  I utilised the ‘Material Metaphor’—soft, squishy pillows that participants are invited to physically place in their location of impossible choice scenarios. This high-engagement intervention successfully stimulated much conversation over privacy, safety and agency – issues faced by people who are homeless, and was part of enhancing direct dialogue with local council planners.

I explored how different modes of interaction move audiences beyond digital archives. I designed a mechanical experience, that acts as the anchor for a choreographed sensory environment. By physically raising an air-raid siren to begin the narrative, the participant triggers a synchronized landscape of sweeping searchlights and falling “bombs” of light. This multi-sensory immersion removes the disconnect of traditional data-viewing, creating a meaningful, lived experience that restores the emotional weight of the Plymouth Blitz.

In a world where we are constantly connected yet increasingly lonely, what is the cost of our physical absence? I used the sensory narrative of “Freya” to question the toll of being “there but not present,” where digital distractions lead to a profound disconnection from our immediate environment. Drawing on the theories of Grace Boyle, I engineered a multi-modal “threshold” that uses scent, sound, and childhood nostalgia to break the digital spell. By inviting participants to reclaim their agency through a tactile Polaroid ritual, the project serves as a provocative reminder to remain present in the physical world.

Working as the Strategic Lead within a creative group, I developed a framework to revitalise a local children’s heritage trail. Based on extensive parent surveys and user-led research, we moved away from “checklist” tourism toward a model that prioritises deep engagement within the space. I engineered a three-tiered pricing structure to support our partner CIC, ensuring the project remained financially sustainable while meeting local needs. By shortening the trail and integrating narrative-led street furniture, we tapped into children’s imaginations to turn historical archives into a lived, community experience.

In response to UN SDG 12, I explored how we can transition from “Responsible Production” to “Emotional Longevity.” Inspired by the loss of narrative attachment in inherited objects, I designed a lighting system centered on the ritual of use. By removing the light and adding your hand print, you are feeding into the item’s history through tacit interaction. It becomes a catalyst for shared stories and collective memory. Applying Jonathan Chapman’s theories, this project proves that objects stay relevant across generations not through their utility, but through the evolving stories they carry.

I used high-fidelity restoration scans to open a 400-year craft dialogue with the Abbott family of master-molders. Acting as Product Strategist and 3D Specialist, I deconstructed sub-millimeter mesh data to bring “untouchable” Jacobean plasterwork off the ceiling and into people’s hands. By optimizing workflows across resin, CNC-machined hardwoods, and vacuum-formed molds for the museum café’s chocolate, I developed a model for Democratic Heritage Access—converting unreachable history into tangible, high-fidelity pieces for the modern home.