How can festival attendees explore Polish heritage through a more engaging digital experience?
Project
Muskegon Polish Festival Mobile & Tablet Experience
Education
A festival-focused digital experience that introduces the event, shares Polish heritage, and gives attendees a smoother path through the most important information.
I focused mainly on the tablet experience with some work on the mobile version, making sure the project feels welcoming, readable, and easy to navigate while still giving the festival enough room to tell its story.
Overview
Role
UX Engineer & Frontend Developer
Timeline
January 2026 - May 2026
Problem Statement
Historical information was often presented through static posters that were hard to access, making it difficult for younger visitors to connect with the festival’s cultural depth and causing important heritage context to get lost in the event’s noise.
Solution
- Designed a connected cross-device experience that starts with a mobile quiz and leads into a tablet journey with interactive maps and layered cultural content.
- Linked playful interaction with deeper exploration so cultural learning feels more intuitive, memorable, and meaningful across generations.
Experience Flow
Stack / Tools
Development
Design & Research
Demo
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Highlights (My Key Contributions)
- Timeline/map flow: Created the tablet timeline and map page with the year, era, border changes, hotspots, and event descriptions.
- Content progression: Linked each timeline state into deeper content pages that expand on key moments in Polish history.
- Template delivery: Delivered a flexible template for Polish history content rather than a fully finalized information set.
- Smooth dragging: Built the timeline component so users can drag through the experience with an easy, fluid motion.
- Phone-to-tablet UX: Worked on the transition between phone and tablet layouts so the experience stays intuitive across devices.
- Accessible color systems: Used thoughtful color schemes to support readability, contrast, and a welcoming visual experience.
- Mockup translation: Turned UI/UX mockups into usable frontend components for the tablet application.
- Historical context: Built the structure to provide layered cultural and historical information across time periods.
- Extended engagement: Designed the experience to extend interest beyond the festival and into deeper exploration.
Outcome
UMSI Exposition Award
Won Final Project Award for User-Centered Agile Development at the UMSI Exposition for “Cultural and Educational Interactive Experience for Polish Festival Visitors.”
Team: Samantha Pratt, Boran Yang, Xiwen Cao, Siraaj Kudtarkar, Jonte Taffe (not pictured)
SI 699 User-Centered Agile Development Mastery Course
Next steps
- Interactions: Add more hotspots and deeper interactions, like audio.
- Accessibility: Keep the experience usable across ages, abilities, and contexts.
- Reach: Extend the experience beyond the event through web access and continued exploration.
- Launch: Debut the project at the Muskegon Polish Festival for festival goers later in September 2026.