Stella Papaioannou

Stella is a multidisciplinary designer whose passion lies in creative direction for physical and digital experiences, storytelling and visual communication. Her bachelor’s degree from the University of the Arts in London provided her with a background in spatial, graphic and digital design, and an interest in the transformation of 2D graphics to 3D environments. Stella’s anthropocentric design approach is driven by her interests in perception, sensory activation, embodied experiences and emotions. Her aim is to stimulate discussions, and to engage and interact with her audience through their senses, by designing playful experiences, combining physical with digital environments. Her designs can be unexpected and many times abstract, activating in that way her audiences’ curiosity and imagination. Stella’s past work has explored the future of education based on the activation of human senses; the field of memory loss and amnesia; and the effects of current and upcoming technologies through storytelling and interaction.

Her limitless curiosity to experiment with different media and materials, has been cultivated further since Stella started her masters at the Royal College of Art in 2019. Since then, transforming information into experiences through immersive technologies, interactive installations, and gamification, has been Stella’s motivational force.

Most resent exhibitions

CAA Conference ‘Playin’ it by ear’ - Chicago, 2020

Expanded Museum, ‘An Imaginary City’ – Athens, 2019

Awards

‘Playin’ it by ear' - London, 2019: BBC in collaboration with the RCA – An interactive game for BBC employees rising questions and awareness about the future of Voice Technology. Selected to be exhibited in BBC’s headquarters in London.

Is it possible that the sounds of the tube can travel you to a mountain in Austria? Can you detect the rhythmic voices of birds and the calm noise of a mountain wind while walking through the tunnel towards the train platform? How can you find similarities between two completely contrary places? If you weren’t able to perceive them through your sight, would they still feel so different?

‘The Sounds Between Us’ is an Immersive experience, exploring the world of sensory activation and its extraordinary possibilities, whilst questioning the range of use of our senses. Focusing on the sense of hearing, the project motivates visitors to start finding connections between their perceived reality and the realm imagination. The design of the experience is based on the real-life testimonies of three visually impaired people. Alex, Christina and Natalie invite visitors to follow them to their poetic journey through Tottenham Court Road Station in London, and discover its magical aspect, shaped by a mix of sounds, both real and imaginary.The experience allow visitors to start paying attention to their surrounding sounds, and question the range of the use of their senses and the perception of their reality, thinking beyond vision and considering a world that can be perceived by other senses as well.

Collaborator:

Shontelle Cai / Sound Design of the Experience

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The Sounds Between Us - Official Trailer

The Sounds Between Us - The Kit

Visitors are invited to go to Tottenham Court Road tube station in London and explore the stories. As part of the experience, before going to the station, a kit will be send to each participants' house. The Kit contains information about the project, the protagonists and further instructions on how to experience it.

Kit

The Sounds Between Us - The Experience

After reading the instructions, visitors are invited to go to the underground station, scan the code that they can find on the map and immerse themselves into the experience.

Alternative Augmented Reality Gamification Immersive Spatial Experience

The Sounds Between Us - Interaction 1 / The Card Machine

The Sounds Between Us - Interaction 2 / The Escalators

The Sounds Between Us - Interaction 3 / The Hallway

The Sounds Between Us - Interaction 4 / The Train Platform

During the journey of the experience the visitors will come across with 4 interactions that will allow them to perceive an alternative perception of reality based on the sense of hearing and travel from the underground station of London to a magical forest.

Blending Interaction London Mix of Sounds Reality and Imagination Tube Station

The Sounds Between Us - An Alternative AR Experience

For the medium of the experience an alternative way of Augmented reality has been chosen in order to make the visuals more detailed and the experience much more accessible for the audience.

Alternative Augmented Reality Mixed Media

The Sounds Between Us - Layers Between Reality and Imagination

Layers Reality and Imagination

Click to Download the Kit

Download Kit Experience the Project

Stella Papaioannou

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Royal College of Art