Gabi Kiryluk
hybrid experience, 2025
KTH Royal Institute of Technology, User Experience Design and Evaluation
Design brief
Choose a design project from Blast Theory. Identify one way that the work may create change in the user/visitor/participant.
Then design exclusively online version of this work that preserves or enhances that change.
Based on these identified changes, we decided to develop an online version of Spit Spreads Death with its focus on raising awareness of pandemics and evoking an emotional connection between participants and the lost ones. We came up with a concept of a Digital Cemetery - a website where people can light a candle for the chosen person, they can learn more about the lost people, and leave flowers and messages for them.
Redesign of Spit Spread Death
Few critical points on the designed prototype:
Death is a touchy subject and some may see this idea of recreating a cementary in a digital space disrespectful
It feels more like a game due to its aesthetics and interaction (point and click) than an actual organised event
Participants are not gathered in one time and place, like the parade did
It is hard to feel emotionally connected to the peoplerepresented by the tombstones
It raises awareness of the pandemic by including more information about the original content of the project
Instead, my redesign focuses on:
The act of lighting up a candle for the loved ones as a way to celebrate, commemorate, pay respect, remember. This is a universal gesture across different cultures and festives: Diwali, St Lucia, All Saint’s etc.
Creating a physical candle holder that would activate the candles in the digital cemetery
Design process
Lovable
#1 Version
The first reiteration of the website revolves around a virtual cemetery offering the ability to interact with the graves (light up the candle, learn about the person, walk between the graves), providing the zoom in and out functionality.
Feedback & Reflections:
- Cemeteries don’t function in all cultures and represnt only the western-european traditions
- Death is a very touchy subject - consider how you can make a design more serious
- Consider how to better communicate the scale of the 1918 pandemic
#2 Version
In this version, the design drives away from the idea of a cemetery to refocus on the gesture of lighting a candle - a universal symbol of hope, memory and paying respect to the loved ones.
Feedback & Reflections
- It is difficult to grasp the context of the project - think about a way to learn more about the original idea
- The UI is confusing and could benefit with different layout