Introduction

Hundreds to thousands of people gather in a specific area within a specific time span for a specific reason which is the topic of this study, namely, music festivals. There are various motivations for festival-goers to attend a music festival since every individual has different priorities, needs, demands, expectations, interests, etc. This study will focus on the experience of festival-goers in a design perspective while considering all above-mentioned aspects.

This study focuses on the extensive interactions and experiences occurring in a music festival including concerts.

Research Questions

In order to construct the study, one main research question is formulated and supported by one sub-question to explore the topic deeper and present extensive solution proposals as stated below:

How can we improve and enrich young adults’ music festival experiences with the help of design?

How can we make the existing festival experience more fun and engaging for festival-goers?

The Aim of the Study

The aim of this study is to investigate music festivals and with participants’ perspectives by analyzing the problems they face and opportunities to improve the experience as well.

The research objectives following the aim are listed below:

- To analyze the music festival going experience from the beginning (considering attending) to after the festival (revisiting memories)

- To explore pain points in the whole process, participants’ concerns, fears, discomforts, regrets, etc.

- To explore the positive experiences of participants such as excitement, joy, enthusiasm, etc.

- To present solutions aiming to solve identified problems and to enrich identified positive experiences, based on the research outcomes

Literature Review

The aim of this study is to explore festival-goers’ music festival experiences throughout the whole process, identify the pain points, and design opportunities. To do so, a literature review was conducted which also aims to create the basis of the research and provide insights to help develop the field study. The study focuses on music festivals with a design perspective, consequently, the literature review was constructed in two different parts. Firstly, it is critical to gain a broad perspective regarding music festivals. In literature, it is found that music festivals, as a topic, are covered in different fields such as tourism, event management, psychology, sociology, music studies, etc. A number of sources from mentioned areas were reviewed and the most relevant information was gathered. Secondly, the overall experience of festival-goers is the focus within the music festival context, hence, a design perspective was brought by reviewing the relevant literature about user experience, positive design, and possibility-driven design. The literature review provides two frameworks, which will be used to develop the structure of the field study and to implement in the design process.

The literature review is too comprehensive to cover in this post. Some important touchpoints are presented below. You can check the full thesis to see the whole review.

Field Study

Methodology: semi-structured interviews to gain in-depth information about festival-goers’ experiences. 10 participants, 18-39 y.o. who have attended at least three music festivals were recruited by voluntarily sampling. 40-60 min Zoom meetings were conducted.

Found Motivations of Festival-Goers

- To see the live performance of artists you like

- To be in a crowd that also appreciates the music you like

- To see the curation of the whole experience

- To escape from your routine and isolate yourself

- To get out of your comfort zone

- To experience random encounters regarding people, music, activities, exhibitions, etc.

- To experience feelings (with others) that are transmitted by artists through their performances

- To enjoy visuals, lights, costumes, shows, etc.

- To feel alive

Some insightful quotations gathered from interviews were presented below.

Key insights

Festival-goers have different priorities and motivations even if they attend the same festival with one big goal, to have a good time.

Even one person can experience changing feelings, expectations, and opinions over time. 

The individual inputs influence the experience of individuals and when people have an experience according to their wants and needs, it helps to create a more unified community feeling.

Design

In the literature review, a framework by Packer and Ballantyne (2011) was presented which is called “The four facets of the music festival experience” and it guided the interview protocol. The framework is formed of four facets which are music - the common ground, separation from the everyday, the social experience, and the festival atmosphere. These facets are the components forming the overall experience of a music festival. Interview participants were asked to explain their feelings and opinions about these components besides other questions like motivations, expectations, concerns, frustrations, and so on. One of the main findings of interviews is how important these components are for festival-goers, however, the importance of each differs from one person to another. Another prominent finding is participants’ various motivations, expectations, and concerns about a music festival which shows us that people attend music festivals with different purposes or priorities. Even for one person, these purposes and priorities can change from time to time.

These various and ever-changing feelings and opinions of festival-goers seeded the idea of creating different characters based on the above-mentioned framework since it contains the core parts of the experience. The initial idea was to create four different characters prioritizing only one facet of the framework, however, during the data analysis and design process, it was found that four characters will not be sufficient to cover each type or mood of festival-goers. Thus, creating sub-characters for each main facet was found to reflect the experience better. The process of character formation will be explained in detail.

Space theme and initial characters

The theme of the design was inspired by interview findings. As mentioned in the field study chapter, different participants made very similar descriptions for music festivals as micro-universe, parallel universe, pocket universe, out of this world, and a different world. These metaphors tell us how festival-goers perceive the experience and this understanding guided the design process to have a space theme. Thus, initially, four characters were created based on the framework reflecting the space theme.

The first character was based on the facet of music - the common ground and was named Music-Head. Relating to the space theme, the character was designed as a star to make a reference to musicians who can be celebrities and called stars. This character has the main purpose of listening and enjoying the music and prioritizes music over other facets.

The second character was created based on the facet, separation from the everyday, and called Alien-Head. The reason for making the character an alien comes from interview insights since participants mentioned that they feel like the festival environment is another world and they feel like they belong there. So, the design decision implies how festival-goers are isolated from the outer world and have their own community in the festival.

The third character was designed as the sun to refer to the facet of the social experience and was called as Social-Head. The reference to the sun is being warm and bright which are also adjectives reflecting a social person. This character represents enjoying social interaction with others more than other parts of the experience.

The fourth character, Astro-Head was based on the facet of the festival atmosphere and designed as an astronaut. The reason for referring to astronauts is simply festival-goers’ being in a different atmosphere than their regular life. This character enjoys the specific festival atmosphere more than other facets of the framework.

Music-Heads

The first character of Music-Heads is the Groupie. The Groupie can be found in every music festival, waiting in front of the stage for hours under the sun just to see its favorite artist/band closer and fully experience the performance. It is likely for the Groupie to wear merch items, and know the lyrics of every song and the setlist. For the Groupie, the biggest priority of the festival is attending a specific concert/s.

Following the Groupie, the second character of Music-Heads is the Dancer. You can find the Dancer at any part of the festival area; in front of the stage, in the toilet line, or in the big grass zone, making its signature moves and just feeling the music. For the Dancer, the expectation is being hooked on the rhythms and dancing the bad vibes off.

The third character of Music-Heads is the All-Ear. Since the topic is music festivals, it is inevitable to ignore people prioritizing listening to music over everything. The All-Ear is that person who pays the attention to the music itself, the musical details of the performance, and the sound system.

The fourth character of Music-Heads is the Explorer. From one stage to another, from morning to night, from the first day to the last day, the Explorer keeps exploring new artists and expanding the personal music library. It may be wise for other characters to ask the Explorer for some song/artist recommendations after the festival.

Alien-Heads

The first character of Alien-Heads is the Drunk who always holds a cup or bottle of drink. The number of them on a festival day is likely to increase over time since it takes time and drinks to be the Drunk. The main priority is to have fun with some drinks and it is probable for the Drunk not to remember some parts and maybe even to pass out at some point.

The second Alien-Head character is the High who can be high on different stuff which will affect its mood and behavior. Hence, you may see a very chill and calm the High whereas you may meet another one who can be the most energetic person in the festival.

The third character of Alien-Heads is the YOLOer who feels and lives like there is no tomorrow since “You Only Live Once.”. It is likely for the YOLOer to attend the extreme activities in the festival area, swim in the lake, play games, etc.

Lastly, the fourth character of Alien-Heads is the Hippie. The nature of the festival is perfect for the Hippie where everyone is at peace, and happy together. You can see the Hippie saluting the sun in the early morning, collecting trash in the camp area, or sitting next to a tree.

Social-Heads

The first Social-Head is the Meeter who can also be called the social butterfly. From in front of the stage to toilet lines, the Meeter is ready to meet new people, make new friends, and talk with them. The best part of a festival for it is meeting other festival-goers and socializing.

The second character of Social-Heads is the Loyal who enjoys spending time with the friend group it comes with. For the Loyal, music festivals are the best place to gain deeper connections with your friends and create new good memories together.

The following and third Social-Head is the Flirty. Unlike the Meeter, the Flirty is likely to meet new people to flirt but it can be anywhere; in front of the stage while waiting for your beer in the line or laying on the grass.

The last and fourth character of Social-Heads is the Bridge. There is this person who gathers different groups of friends together, introduces them to each other and the group becomes more crowded over time. This person is the Bridge.

Astro-Heads

The last character group is Astro-Heads and the first character is the Chiller. While laying down on the grass under the sun, having sips from a cold beer and chatting with friends with the music in the background coming from a far stage can be the most satisfying moment for the Chiller.

The second Astro-Head is the Blogger who never puts the mobile phone down and may need a power bank at some point. For the Blogger, having the best photos and videos in the coolest part of the festival area and sharing them on social media is the main priority.

The third character of Astro-Heads is the Performer and by performance, it is meant the overall look which requires great effort. You can see very creative costumes, outfits, and make-ups thanks to them and it is possible to say that the world is their stage.

The very last character is the Enthusiast who will try to see every installation, and artworks, want to attend workshops and activities, and prioritize these side but supporting parts of the festival over music and people.

Characters in use

The next step is implementing these characters in different use cases. As mentioned in the literature review and interview insights, the adopted approach in this study is positive design and possibility-driven design. With this approach, three use cases are generated with different purposes such as creating empathy among all festival-goers, enriching the music festival experience people have, and connecting like-minded people which will be explained further.

i. Creating Empathy

The main finding that guided the design process is the fact that every festival-goer has different motivations, expectations, priorities, feelings, and opinions even at the same festival. For a better experience, it is important for people to respect other people’s experiences as much as they care about their own experiences. Empathy can be considered the key understanding to create such a respectful and peaceful atmosphere. With the aim of creating empathy, scenarios were created to provide festival-goers with the before the festival stage, so they can empathize more and behave accordingly. These scenarios will be sent to festival-goers with tickets either digital or printed.

ii. Enriching the Experience

Characters are found to have high potential to use in the brand identity of a festival. Thus, a concept music festival was created and called as COSMOS Music Festival referring to the space theme.

It was decided to use characters in different merchandise items and products in the festival setting such as tote bags, t-shirts, caps, and plastic cups. Plastic cup designs were made for the Chiller, the Meeter, and the Drunk, festival-goers can select which cup to get and convey their messages through cups. The T-shirt design aims to inform people around to not disturb the All-Ear. The tote bag design was made to connect the Enthusiasts to create interaction and information exchange. Lastly, caps were designed as merch items and can be created for each character, so every festival-goer can get them as a memory.

iii. Connecting People

The next step to implement characters was creating a mobile application concept for the festival. With this app, festival-goers can take a test to find out their festival character, if they feel in a different mood they can change their character and join the communities formed of festival-goers with the same character to connect.

User Test

Methodologhy: focus group to have a generative flow of data. 5 designers who are also festival-goers were recruited by voluntarily sampling. 120 min physical meeting was conducted.

Participants' Feedback:

One participant stated there can be more characters like “the Foodie” while another participant said more characters can cause confusion.

This can be the core of the festival concept. People can collect merch products and earn discount. Or when they buy the ticket, they can get 4 items from the characters they choose.

There can be more products like fanny pack full of festival essentials, fashionable clothes, earplugs, hangover kit for the Drunk, trash bag for the Hippie, yoga mat for the Chiller, etc.

Key Findings

Participants related with the characters and a stronger engagement was built.

Very detailed information should be provided to festival-goers to prevent confusion.

Products can be developed in detail (like the mobile app) and some ideas can be applied in a more extensive group (as scenarios) to test separately.

Conclusion

Revisiting the research questions

Research Question: How can we improve and enrich young adults’ music festival experiences with the help of design?

As mentioned in the summary, it is found that each festival-goer generates different expectations and priorities for a music festival. Even one festival-goer can have changing priorities in time. It is important to take all individuals’ different feelings and thoughts into consideration to create a more inclusive experience. Addressing every aspect festival-goers have and creating empathy for a more respectful experience are the developed ways to improve and enrich the music festival experiences.

Sub-question: How can we make the existing festival experiences more engaging and fun for festival-goers?

It is found in the field study that festival-goers enjoy different things at different festivals or at different times in one festival. Thus, connecting people who are interested in certain things or spend their time in similar ways can be considered as a way to create a more engaging music festival experience. In addition, it is important for festival-goers to feel special in their experience to feel more engaged with the festival.

Limitations

Participants were asked to explain their past festival experiences but witnessing their process throughout the study and collecting data meanwhile could have resulted in more detailed insights.

Due to limited time, various concepts were designed but they were not developed in detail.

Illustrating in a short time was challenging for the researcher.

Further developments

Developing each concept in detail and designing the proposed potential uses as animations in the advertisement, stage design, and after-movie

The design of the mobile application can be developed and include many features such as ticket purchasing, festival line-up, and schedule, detailed information about the festival, blog, etc. Each possible feature of the app can be tested in different user groups to reach an inclusive solution.