Virtual Festival Space for DJ collective Kollektiv Turmstrasse
A web-based 3D festival space for DJ collective Kollektiv Turmstrasse, enabling their community to connect and celebrate during the pandemic. Users, as avatars, could freely explore, enjoy live-streamed DJ sets on huge virtual video walls, and dance together in this immersive online environment.
Impact
The first two events sold out, validating a new virtual event model and providing a revenue stream for the DJ collective during a global pandemic, with opportunities to scale beyond.
Retention metrics were strong: a single-digit drop-off rate demonstrated high engagement and satisfaction.
Community participation flourished with more than 1,000 chat messages exchanged during the 90-minute show.
Client
Kollektiv Turmstrasse
My role
UX Lead, Storytelling, Wireframes, User flows
Duration
November 2020 - March 2021
Awards:
The Lovie Awards: 1x Silver, 1x Bronze, FWA of the Day
Press:
Featured at Page Magazin online and print
The Challenge
How can we create a meaningful, engaging album-release experience despite the limitations of a global pandemic?
It’s 2021, Covid-19 is at its peak and the famous DJ duo Kollektiv Turmstrasse wants to publish their long awaited new record and celebrate it with their global community. Yet, there’s no festival taking place, not a single club allowed to open.
The Approach:
Open up Your on Club – Virtually
The idea was to find a new way of experiencing music digitally – for spectators as well as for artists. Therefore, I set the focus on transporting the festival atmosphere into the virtual space – building the bridge between a club atmosphere and a more common web experience.
Collaborating closely with 3D artists, we identified all essential elements of the virtual festival space. This led to an initial concept art sketch that captured the vision and look & feel of the 3D environment.
Low Hurdle User Authentication
As the success of the experience was to be measured in tickets sold, I focussed on making the ticketing process and registration as simple as possible.
I implemented a passwordless magic-link login that allows users simply enter their email address to access the ticket checkout.
When the event starts, users use the emailed magic link to access the platform, select an avatar, choose a username, and join seamlessly.
Once the event is live the magic link login allows the user to select the provided link in the e-mail to get access, select an avatar, type in a username and they’re good to go!
Get Ready
Before entering the virtual festival space, users select their avatar and learn the basic navigation essentials.
Dance It Off
There’s no good party without dancing.
I designed an intuitive interaction wheel that’s available at any moment, enabling users to effortlessly browse and trigger a range of dance moves.
Shaping the Experience
Attention to detail played a key role in shaping the experience. I looked for elements that would elevate the atmosphere while simultaneously addressing UX hurdles.
One example is the virtual bouncer. An in-story character who provides onboarding guidance as users approach the club. Another is the subtle, muffled music on the pre-event landing page, designed to evoke the familiar anticipation of standing outside a venue before entering.
What users say…
„Just really love how KT brings everyone together in these difficult times. True love“
– Vanessa
„I will definitely be here again for the next show. Incredibly nice music!“
– Theberzerker
„Respect for the courage of launching this new project despite the difficult times.“
“@flipflop absolutely!! Hats off for these guys, amazing job!”
– flipflop & alex
Feature in the Page Magazin
