FRICANDUO

Context

‍During Covid we had a growing community of brilliant artists, photographers and digital designers at Fricanduo and we wanted to find a way to help share their work. Our natural conclusion was to create a VR exhibition even though neither of us had any experience with designing for VR before.

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Problem

When we first started this project we were worried it would be a monumental task with a huge learning curve. It can feel overwhelming when you want to create something with new technologies that you’ve never used. We were doing this as a passion project, with no budget which led us to ask "How can we create a VR exhibition fast and free?"

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Goal

The goal was to create a VR exhibition fast and free to promote the work of artists, photographers and digital designers from Ghana and Ethiopia. This was going to be our second “event” in our ”What if” series. We called it “What if Conceptual Africa” and got to work. My role was to curate and lead on the art-direction of the project as well as how users would experience the VR exhibition.

My approach

1. Research feasibility
2. Research limitations
3. Create a brand
4. Curate a VR exhibition
5. Design a website

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1. Is it even possible?

‍Initially, we explored various platforms but found they were paid services, not fitting our "free" criteria. Designing and building a VR environment ourselves proved too time-consuming. Neither of these options aligned with our initial goal. Finally, we discovered ArtSteps, a platform that allowed us to create and customize exhibitions to our liking.

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2. Introducing Artsteps

‍Artsteps is a platform that allows you to create virtual reality exhibitions for free and has a step-by-step interface that helps you create an exhibition quite easily. You can find a template, plop some objects in and bobs your uncle, you have an exhibition. However, if you want to create a more unique and bespoke experience it requires a little more planning and design.There were three main limitations of the platform:

• A predetermined environment with limited customization
• A predetermined block with limitations around placing your objects
• A tedious UI for uploading your Resources and customising them

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3. Representing Ghana and Ethiopia

‍At the time we had someone who wanted to work with us for some work experience, Nicole is a talented illustrator who volunteered her time to help us create graphic elements for the website. The typography was the core of the identity, we used the typeface punc and titilum web to give a futuristic vibe. The illustrations and graphic elements were designed to respresent Ethiopian and a Ghanaian landmarks as 3D backdrops, with colourful characters in the foreground representing the creatives living in those places. The color system was diverse and used in different ways with different shades creating a tapestry of textures.

4. Getting into the Virtual Reality

‍This step took a lot of experimentation and by keeping the limitations in the foreground I was able to design an experience that felt like it had a clear identity. I tried to make sure that the VR space felt unique and maybe the slight illusion that you were in an actual gallery. I kept these key principles in mind as I was building it:

• Keep the space immersive, don’t break the illusion
• Curate the space so it highlights the artists works
• Create an experience that isn’t jarring and accommodates different device

Refer to this blog post if you want an in depth breakdown of the steps i took to build the VR exhibition itself.

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5. A landing page to get you there

‍The website was a collaborative effort with Ryzard, Nicole and myself. I lead on the art-direction and UI layout, Nicole created the graphic assets and Ryzard was the developer wizz and brought the concept to life with interactions and transitions, giving the whole page clear storytelling and showing the creatives. We integrated clear call to action making sure that the users.

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Conclusion

The VR exhibition and website came together as a true collaborative effort between Nicole, Ryzard and myself. Despite the platform’s limitations, we created an experience that felt immersive, playful, and representative of both Ghanaian and Ethiopian creative communities. It was a project that pushed me to find creative solutions within constraints and showed how strong collaboration can elevate an idea into something far more engaging.