UX / UI
La Tienda
An interactive journey: Sketches come to life (Mobile Experience)
Year :
2023
Industry :
Information Design - Tech Track
Client :
HvA
Project Duration :
1 month
Problem :
This project was developed for a real client, visual artist Jan Rothuizen, who documents his travels through highly detailed, hand-drawn maps and visual stories. The assignment was to design an immersive and interactive mobile storytelling experience that could bring his work to life in a digital environment.
A key challenge was translating his analogue sketches into an interactive format without losing their authenticity. The drawings contain dense information, with annotations embedded in empty spaces around the visuals. While this richness is central to his storytelling, it also created significant visual clutter and cognitive load, making it difficult for users to focus and engage with the content on small mobile screens.
Solution :
As the Developer, I designed and built a web-based mobile experience focused on progressive interaction and user control. After analysing available materials such as notes, videos, and photographs from his Colombian project Café La Tienda, we identified patterns in how information was structured and how users might naturally explore the content.
To reduce cognitive overload, I implemented an interaction model based on zooming and progressive disclosure. Users can zoom into highlighted areas of the sketch, revealing context-specific annotations only when they choose to explore further. This approach, which I referred to as Responsive Enabling, allows users to gradually uncover layers of information while maintaining the visual integrity of the original artwork.
The solution balanced immersion and clarity, enabling deeper engagement without overwhelming the user.
Challenge :
One of the main challenges was preserving the artist’s expressive and detailed visual language while introducing digital interaction. Simplifying the artwork risked losing meaning, but maintaining its full complexity could harm usability.
Additionally, as the developer, I had to translate design concepts into a functional product, ensuring performance and usability across mobile devices. This required close collaboration with designers, iterative testing, and continuous optimisation of the interaction model to achieve both aesthetic and technical goals.
Summary :
This project strengthened my skills in front-end development, interactive storytelling, and user-centred design. It deepened my understanding of cognitive load, progressive disclosure, and how interaction design can support complex information without compromising artistic integrity.
Working with a real client also improved my ability to balance stakeholder vision with usability, a mindset I continue to apply in my UX and interaction design work.
More Projects
UX / UI
La Tienda
An interactive journey: Sketches come to life (Mobile Experience)
Year :
2023
Industry :
Information Design - Tech Track
Client :
HvA
Project Duration :
1 month
Problem :
This project was developed for a real client, visual artist Jan Rothuizen, who documents his travels through highly detailed, hand-drawn maps and visual stories. The assignment was to design an immersive and interactive mobile storytelling experience that could bring his work to life in a digital environment.
A key challenge was translating his analogue sketches into an interactive format without losing their authenticity. The drawings contain dense information, with annotations embedded in empty spaces around the visuals. While this richness is central to his storytelling, it also created significant visual clutter and cognitive load, making it difficult for users to focus and engage with the content on small mobile screens.
Solution :
As the Developer, I designed and built a web-based mobile experience focused on progressive interaction and user control. After analysing available materials such as notes, videos, and photographs from his Colombian project Café La Tienda, we identified patterns in how information was structured and how users might naturally explore the content.
To reduce cognitive overload, I implemented an interaction model based on zooming and progressive disclosure. Users can zoom into highlighted areas of the sketch, revealing context-specific annotations only when they choose to explore further. This approach, which I referred to as Responsive Enabling, allows users to gradually uncover layers of information while maintaining the visual integrity of the original artwork.
The solution balanced immersion and clarity, enabling deeper engagement without overwhelming the user.
Challenge :
One of the main challenges was preserving the artist’s expressive and detailed visual language while introducing digital interaction. Simplifying the artwork risked losing meaning, but maintaining its full complexity could harm usability.
Additionally, as the developer, I had to translate design concepts into a functional product, ensuring performance and usability across mobile devices. This required close collaboration with designers, iterative testing, and continuous optimisation of the interaction model to achieve both aesthetic and technical goals.
Summary :
This project strengthened my skills in front-end development, interactive storytelling, and user-centred design. It deepened my understanding of cognitive load, progressive disclosure, and how interaction design can support complex information without compromising artistic integrity.
Working with a real client also improved my ability to balance stakeholder vision with usability, a mindset I continue to apply in my UX and interaction design work.
More Projects
UX / UI
La Tienda
An interactive journey: Sketches come to life (Mobile Experience)
Year :
2023
Industry :
Information Design - Tech Track
Client :
HvA
Project Duration :
1 month
Problem :
This project was developed for a real client, visual artist Jan Rothuizen, who documents his travels through highly detailed, hand-drawn maps and visual stories. The assignment was to design an immersive and interactive mobile storytelling experience that could bring his work to life in a digital environment.
A key challenge was translating his analogue sketches into an interactive format without losing their authenticity. The drawings contain dense information, with annotations embedded in empty spaces around the visuals. While this richness is central to his storytelling, it also created significant visual clutter and cognitive load, making it difficult for users to focus and engage with the content on small mobile screens.
Solution :
As the Developer, I designed and built a web-based mobile experience focused on progressive interaction and user control. After analysing available materials such as notes, videos, and photographs from his Colombian project Café La Tienda, we identified patterns in how information was structured and how users might naturally explore the content.
To reduce cognitive overload, I implemented an interaction model based on zooming and progressive disclosure. Users can zoom into highlighted areas of the sketch, revealing context-specific annotations only when they choose to explore further. This approach, which I referred to as Responsive Enabling, allows users to gradually uncover layers of information while maintaining the visual integrity of the original artwork.
The solution balanced immersion and clarity, enabling deeper engagement without overwhelming the user.
Challenge :
One of the main challenges was preserving the artist’s expressive and detailed visual language while introducing digital interaction. Simplifying the artwork risked losing meaning, but maintaining its full complexity could harm usability.
Additionally, as the developer, I had to translate design concepts into a functional product, ensuring performance and usability across mobile devices. This required close collaboration with designers, iterative testing, and continuous optimisation of the interaction model to achieve both aesthetic and technical goals.
Summary :
This project strengthened my skills in front-end development, interactive storytelling, and user-centred design. It deepened my understanding of cognitive load, progressive disclosure, and how interaction design can support complex information without compromising artistic integrity.
Working with a real client also improved my ability to balance stakeholder vision with usability, a mindset I continue to apply in my UX and interaction design work.