“Factory Settings”: Augmented Reality app and digital art with Snapkit

Role: Project lead and Creative producer

Factory Settings is a free Augmented Reality exhibition app developed by our team at NEEEU Spaces GmbH. The app integrates bespoke digital artworks and is intended to enhance the visitor experience at Aviva Studios, Manchester.

I served as Project Lead for the app development and managed the first artistic commission: Jack Sachs: Power Up! Jack’s AR overlay populates the Aviva Studios space with vibrant, cartoonish creatures you can interact with and customise. My role involved coordinating designers, developers and artists.

“Technicians Gallery”: Interactive exhibit at the London Science Museum

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Role: Editorial Lead and Experience Designer

For this project we designed and development a permanent interactive gallery exhibition showcasing the careers of technicians.

We developed a series of interactive exhibits on the topics of renewable energy and health science, tailored for 11-16-year-olds. Visitors can handle essential items technicians use every day and try out interactive exhibits which replicate the important tasks technicians perform. This is the world’s first gallery dedicated to technicians.

Your Story Matters: Interactive storytelling tool

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Role: Concept development, workshop facilitation, UX

Project Overview

“An interactive web platform for the Museum of Archaeology and Culture (LWL-MAK) in Herne, Germany. Designed and developed by Berlin-based interaction design studio NEEEU Spaces and an advisory board of 12 volunteers, the platform provides a safe and imaginative space for people with diverse migration backgrounds to share their personal stories.
Blending technology, storytelling, and cultural heritage, the project amplifies underrepresented voices and preserves their histories. Designed as a versatile format, the tool can be adapted for special exhibitions and serves as a digital bridge between audiences onsite and online.” – Ceren Topcu, Project Lead

https://your-story-matters.de/

Selected workshops and presentations

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Co-creation and co-design workshops for:

– LWL Museum of Archeology, Herne.

– Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin

– University of Helsinki

– Futurium, Berlin

– Interactive Media Foundation, Berlin

– Filmtank, Berlin

– Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

– Factory International, Manchester, UK

Presentations:

Dokumentale: The Multiplatform Mindset: Rethinking Formats

Silbersatz Festival: Emerging Talents Present Brand New Projects

Freelance journalism empowerment conference – What’s new: the latest storytelling trends in freelance journalism

EsoDocs: Climate Justice at the Hague

University of Madrid: Multimodal website design and audiovisual experiences

Plant for the Planet: Participatory Storytelling for Climate Justice

IMPACT CAMPAIGN: Witness Stand

Productions

Role: Director, producer, interviewer and media advisor

The Witness Stand was established to make sure that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion proceedings on climate change are more inclusive and representative of those most affected. The Witness Stand asks people from around the world what their message would be to the World’s Highest Court as it considers the question of climate change for the first time.

Visit the website here to view over 100 testimonies from around the world.

The impact campaign included adverts across the City of the Hague.

MEDIA CAMPAIGN: Not Just Celsius

Special Projects

Role: Content Director & Editorial Lead

Not Just Celsius was a cross-platform media campaign for climate justice. The project ran from 2022-2025.

Our focus was to support the historic youth-led campaign for a progressive legal Advisory Opinion on the issue of climate change from the World’s Highest Court.

Not Just Celsius impact goals:

– To inform and foster understanding for climate justice and inspire action through storytelling.
– To collaborate with young activists, CSOs, public institutions, artists and media players through digital platforms and with live events to drive collective impact.
– To amplify and ensure the voices of those most affected by climate change impacts are heard in the historic process.

Key links:
Not Just Celsius website
Not Just Celsius instagram

GRAPHIC NOVEL: Motherhood in Crisis, Sierra Leone

Productions

In the West African nation of Sierra Leone, one in 10 women die during childbirth. Healthcare systems are fragile – further strained by Ebola and now COVID-19 – and access to basic treatment is often limited.

The journeys that pregnant women take to reach healthcare provision can be long and traumatic. In this comic series, four women share their stories of hardship and survival in a country where falling pregnant means risking death.

READ CHAPTER 1: Birth in my village – Memunatu’s story
In Sierra Leone’s rural areas, far from hospital treatment, the majority of women and girls give birth at home. If complications arise the consequences can be life-altering.

READ CHAPTER 2: My stolen future – Heela’s story
For many school girls in Sierra Leone, pregnancy means the end of formal schooling and an uncertain future.

READ CHAPTER 3: The devil at my door – Kadiatu’s story
In Sierra Leone, trust in healthcare facilities is low and traditional medicine can provide a cheaper alternative. This can be deadly for mothers and their children.

READ CHAPTER 4: My punishment – Tetteh’s story
In Sierra Leone, laws are vague, poorly defined and disproportionately affect women. When Tetteh arrived in prison she was 3 months pregnant.

LINK TO CHAPTER SELECTION VIA ALJAZEERA ENGLISH

SPECIAL PROJECT: Using data to improve sanitation services in Lusaka.

Special Projects

Role: Engagement Consultant, Researcher & Designer.

“Data to Action” was a six week research and design consultancy project – a partnership between WSUP (Zambia) and NEEEU Spaces GmbH (in partnership with LWSC). The overall objective of this consultancy was to develop user interfaces, designed to demonstrate the impact of effective data management in the pursuit of building pit emptying businesses.

The project was to focus on converting the existing database (housing information from data collection activities in 2017), through co-creation with private service providers and government agencies, into a user-friendly digital tool. Applying a human- centred design approach, we conducted in-depth research with multiple stakeholders across the FSM Sector to ascertain the most useful means through which to effectively utilise data use. Upon completion of this research, we designed and tested, in collaboration with service providers, an integrated method for data collection, management and, in part, visualisation.

Illustration: Sheila Decloedt

“The Virtual Forest”. Using Virtual Reality to influence decision makers in Finland.

Productions, Writing

Designed to inform & influence Finnish policy makers, the “Virtual Forest” explores how current Forestry Management strategies are contributing towards climate breakdown. The 6 minute experience, led by the voice of Timo Vesala – Professor of Meteorology at the University of Helsinki, guides users through a hyper-real forest environment, combining verified science, creativity and domestic politics in one powerful story.

Incorporating immersive information visualisation, this experience allows users to travel forward in time to reveal future forests. The causes & symptoms of Climate Change has failed to dominate the political agenda in Finland. This experience holds a microscope to this issue.

Role: Writer, Researcher, Producer & Project Manager.

You can watch the 360 degrees video rendering of the experience below:

COMIC: Migrants on the Margins in Harare (Zimbabwe)

Productions

Migrants on the margins, is a three year project involving researchers from UK universities, international research partners and Graphic Novella specialists – Positive Negatives. The project focuses on the vulnerability and opportunities of migrants in some of the world’s most pressured cities, including Colombo (Sri Lanka), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Harare (Zimbabwe) and Hargeisa (Somaliland).

UPDATE: In October 2019, the Migrants on the margins resources were awarded the 4-star award, in the Curriculum Impact category, of the Teach Secondary 2019 Awards.

DETAIL:

In January-February 2018, I was commissioned by Positive Negatives to travel to Harare to document the experiences of people living in informal settlements across the city. Working in line with the Positive Negatives methodology, I interviewed a number of people who shared a range of rich stories. A selection of these stories were developed into a final comic.

Below you can find the finished comic and a series of photos from the trip, including: travels to Hopley and Porta Farm, script development exercises and discussions with local artists.

TAWANDA’S STORY: