ENCAGED: Speculative Archives

UX UI Design

Spacial Design

Project

🟩 Project Brief “How can speculative design and futuring help us engage with the archives and possible futures of galleries?” This course explores creative interventions in gallery archives using speculative design and futuring. Our goal was to design and prototype an interactive system that connects visitors with the Tin Sheds Gallery’s past, present, and potential futures, while emphasising ethical engagement with marginalised narratives and Indigenous perspectives.

Client

@Tin Sheds Gallery

Tool

Figma, Photoshop

Year

2023

Role

UX/UI Designer, Model Designer

🟧 Research

🧱 Physical Site Analysis
  • Tin Sheds Gallery is compact, with 6 regions and 3 key entrances

  • Space limitations and unclear navigation impact visitor experience

  • Limited wall space creates challenges in exhibition setup

  • Lack of thematic separation can confuse visitors

🏛️ Background Research
  • Gallery founded in 1969 as a political and artistic space

  • Hosted critical exhibitions on Aboriginal land rights, feminism, nuclear issues, and housing justice

  • Recent themes include colonisation, climate change, AI in art

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Audience Research
  • Primary audience: students, art lovers, community members

  • Engaged via website, social media, word-of-mouth, and on-site visits

  • Values: inclusivity, reflection, cultural diversity, and dialogue

🧪 Design Methodologies

We applied speculative design methods including:

  • TimeScape — mapping past and future shifts in human rights

  • STEEPLE Analysis — considering social, technological, ethical, and environmental drivers

  • Double Variable Method — generating multiple scenario possibilities

🌱 Scenario Analysis

Explored multiple speculative futures for the gallery at the intersection of:

  • Technology vs. Tradition

  • Centralised vs. Decentralised Archives

Visualised through concept sketches, role-playing narratives, and system flows.

Low Fi wireframe

Low Fi wireframe

Low Fi wireframe

WIP

WIP

WIP

🟦 Final Concept

Encaged is a speculative, interactive archive system designed to provoke empathy, reflection, and dialogue around human rights themes — particularly those that are often marginalised or overlooked in traditional gallery narratives.

Visitors engage with:

  • 🔐 Symbolic interaction through physical keys and cages

  • 💬 Conversation prompts on-screen to foster dialogue

  • 🗂️ Multimedia archival content—photos, interviews, protest posters

  • 💡 Speculative futures visualised through interactive timelines and maps

By blending physical interaction with digital storytelling, the system invites users to unlock and experience alternate perspectives, contributing to a shared, evolving archive.

🟩 Key Features

  1. Dual-Mode Access

    • 📍 On-site kiosk with physical keys and screen interaction

    • 🌐 Remote digital archive accessible through QR codes or gallery website

  2. Unlockable Archives

    • Each key reveals a specific archive item—e.g., a protest story, image, or future scenario

  3. Comment & Contribution Interface

    • Visitors can read and leave comments, adding to a collaborative narrative thread

  4. Thematic Storylines

    • Organised by rights issues: Land, Identity, Voice, Protest, Safety, Future

  5. Futures Visualisation

    • Timelines, STEEPLE overlays, and double-variable maps help speculate possible futures of gallery archives

This project challenged us to rethink what archives could become — not static repositories, but living, interactive systems.

Through speculative design, we:

  • Explored the tension between control and openness in human rights storytelling

  • Learned to design for ambiguity, emotion, and dialogue instead of fixed outcomes

  • Developed skills in physical-digital prototyping and scenario building

  • Deepened our understanding of ethical interaction, especially around Indigenous and marginalised narratives

Above all, Encaged reminded us that designing for the future means designing with empathy — creating systems that invite participation, hold space for discomfort, and honour diverse perspectives.