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.
🟦 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
Dual-Mode Access
📍 On-site kiosk with physical keys and screen interaction
🌐 Remote digital archive accessible through QR codes or gallery website
Unlockable Archives
Each key reveals a specific archive item—e.g., a protest story, image, or future scenario
Comment & Contribution Interface
Visitors can read and leave comments, adding to a collaborative narrative thread
Thematic Storylines
Organised by rights issues: Land, Identity, Voice, Protest, Safety, Future
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.