The festival food experience

Abstract

In the Spring of 2019, Museum het Prinsenhof Delft will present the Mojo
Backstage exhibition, celebrating the 50th birthday of Mojo Concerts. In this
exhibition, the visitor will learn about the developments Mojo has brought
to the world of music, and experience what it is like to be at a festival. Over
the years, festival food has become an increasingly important part of this
experience. This thesis describes the process of designing an installation
that lets the exhibition visitor experience the past and present of festival food.

To obtain a thorough understanding of the context of the to be designed
installation, different topics are researched. The company starring the
exhibition is studied, and through talking to the museum’s stakeholders a
better understanding of the exhibition and its intended visitors is gained.
By combining literature with user interview insights, the different aspects
that make up the festival (food) experience are identified, resulting in a
festival food journey. Also, multisensory mindmaps are used as a way to gain
valuable insights about the festival food experience, resulting in an overview
of the various ways visitor’s senses are stimulated throughout each of the
journey’s steps. Finally, a list of developments in festival food is compiled through online research and interviewing festival visitors and food stall employees.

Utilizing various ideation methods, several concept directions are developed.
By evaluating these through talking to the museum stakeholders and the
intended target group, doing imaginary walkthroughs through the eyes of
the different personas and testing them on the proposed interaction qualities
and evaluation points, one concept direction is chosen to further develop.

The design proposal utilizes a large printed festival floor, on which 7 piles
of trash are displayed as a medium to convey the story of the previously
identified developments in festival food. On the festival floor, several objects
are placed to recreate the festival ambience. Also, speakers are placed
throughout the exhibit playing a composed festival soundscape. At the
high-peak tent food stall, the visitor can exchange their Mojo Backstage Coin
(which they received when buying their museum ticket) for a Frietzak Vol
Festival Voedsel: a bag holding several foods that represent today’s festival
food offer, with an informative text printed on its inside.

The concept is then assessed by performing several prototype user tests and
an additional evaluation through the eyes of all personas. Also, feedback is
gained from the stakeholders and the concept is tested against the evaluation
points. Afterwards, several of the gained insights are used for a final iteration
of the exhibit, and recommendations for further development steps are
presented.

Although the proposed concept needs further refinement before it can be
placed in the exhibition, this project proves that several of its components are
able to let the visitor experience the past and present of festival food.