ELVTR
Digital Twin: Music Festival
How to optimise the music festival experience for guests and organisers by using digital twin to process data in real-time.
Tools & Resources: Unity, Figma, Unity Asset Store, Kenney, Vcode, ChatGPT, YouTube
THE BRIEF
The assignment called for a proof of concept for a digital twin that contextualises real-world data on a virtual twin. This prototype built upon the collaboration space, The Upper Left Playground.
Time was tight so the plan was to evolve the Playground into a music festival and create a digital twin prototype that uses live data to help Festival Organisers optimise the guest experience.
THE SOLUTION
Having attended several music festivals as a guest and worker, I was familiar with the issues that can impact the experience: overcrowding, queuing, safety, running out of supplies, etc.
Researching festival pain points validated my hypotheses and I brainstormed ideas on how tech could be used to optimise the festival experience. The solution was to create a twin with carefully defined data points that could make music festivals run seamlessly, safely and sustainably in real-time.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Festival Organisers need to juggle countless moving parts.
They troubleshoot on the fly and make quick decisions to ensure everything flows seamlessly. Crowds, performers, vendors, and staff all relying on them.
Every second counts to keep the experience smooth, enjoyable and environmentally friendly. It’s fast-paced the success of the event depends on their ability to adapt and deliver.
To prevent them feeling stressed and overwhelmed, a digital twin could be a valuable resource to stay one step ahead.
THE CONCEPT
Features authentic to the festival experience were added. Crucially, could be measured in real-time to optimise the running of the festival.
The following features were added to provide live data for the digital twin:
Entry Gate: Capacity
Wind turbines: Energy
Second stage: Noise Levels
Dance Tent: Temperature
Food & Beverage stall: Stock levels
Toilets: Cleanliness
Entry Gate and wind turbines added to original twin
Dance tent, Food & Beverage Stall added to the mix
Second stage added
Every festival needs toilets (lots of them)
THE EXPERIENCE
The dollhouse view of the twin sits atop one of the highest points on the island, giving Festival Organisers a dramatic perspective that affords them a near 360 view of the festival site.
The panels stream live data into the dollhouse view to give Organisers pertinent information at a glance.
There is a hierarchy to the data: the key metrics of capacity (no. of guests) and temperature (°C) are prominent, as is a real-time update of which artists are performing on each stage and how long is remaining in their set. This gives Organisers time to prepare for changes in crowd movements across the site.
More specific data points are displayed on panels, anchored to the relevant feature within the site.
The UX Flow below outlines how the digital twin works.
THE PROTOTYPE
This prototype shows an initial interaction between GEM
and user in the gym. With ChatGPT enabled and trained on the character’s persona, GEM is able to answer questions and provide information and directions in a friendly, upbeat manner.
Please note: animations are not working in this prototype but can be viewed below.
UI DESIGN
In keeping with the festival spirit, the UI is practical yet playful, taking inspiration from rave flyers, the panels are bold and display data clearly.
The Now Playing panel brings ‘big picture’ context to the twin, while the Data Panels are simple data visualisations that are easily digestible. A progress bar is a valuable feature for Festival Organisers whose decision-making is often time-dependent.
*UI components to be added to prototype
CREDITS
EDUCATOR
ELVTR
2025
ROLE
Strategist
Creative
Unity Designer
Coder
HEADLINERS
Martyn Gooding
Alex Hogan
BACK TO THE WORK •
BACK TO THE WORK •