Overview
What IF? is a festival concept developed for IF Performance Hall to enhance audience engagement and strengthen long-term visitor loyalty. Based on extensive research and user insights, the project proposes a participatory festival experience that combines performances, interactive activities, and social experiences to transform audiences from passive spectators into active participants.
My Role
As Project Lead and Creative Director, I was responsible for guiding the project from research to final execution. My contributions included user research, stakeholder analysis, concept development, experience design, visual identity design, spatial planning, prototyping, and user testing, ensuring a cohesive and research-driven outcome across all stages of the project.
Process
The project followed a research-driven design process that included secondary research, stakeholder mapping, interviews, fieldwork, surveys, and user testing. Insights gathered throughout the process informed the development of the festival concept, spatial strategy, visual identity system, and engagement-focused experiences.
What IF? Festival Design for IF Performance Hall
Capstone Project
Reflection
This project provided an opportunity to explore audience engagement through a comprehensive and research-driven design process. Working across research, strategy, experience design, spatial planning, and visual identity development allowed us to approach the challenge from multiple perspectives and translate insights into a cohesive festival concept. Throughout the process, we gained valuable experience in collaboration, decision-making, user-centered design, and project management. The project ultimately demonstrated how design can create meaningful connections between cultural institutions and their audiences while contributing to long-term engagement and community building.
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Gökhan İnanç and the IF Performance Hall team for their support, collaboration, and valuable insights throughout this project. Their contributions played an important role in shaping both the research and design process.
We are also grateful to our instructors for their guidance and constructive feedback, and to our classmates for their support and valuable discussions throughout the development of this project.
Finally, we would like to thank all participants who contributed their time, experiences, and perspectives during the research and testing phases. Their input was essential in helping us develop and refine the final outcome.
Project Team
Furkan Karanfil
Aleyna Aygül
Alp Akkaya
Doruk Dikmeer
Selin Ertunç