The Brief
Visit Antwerp challenged us to get more young urban travellers (18–36) to choose Antwerp for a city trip — without relying on traditional tourism marketing. The concept had to be digital-first, feel authentic rather than promotional, and centre on at least one of Antwerp’s four core themes: Style, Flavours, 24/7 Pulse, or Historic Heart.
We landed on Six Lenses: an app that lets travellers explore Antwerp through the creative perspective of the Antwerp Six fashion designers — hunting for hidden local “gems” tied to each designer’s aesthetic using clues rather than exact pins, rewarded with stickers and a personalised digital ViewMaster.
Align with Visit Antwerp's positioning and connect authentically with Gen Z and Millennial travellers without feeling like a classic promotional campaign.
Be digital-first, combining a mobile app interface with physical street activations and social campaign touchpoints.
Centre on Antwerp's core identity, going beyond landmark tourism into niche fashion subcultures and hidden local spots.
The Process
Research & Problem Definition
To understand what actually drives young urban travellers (18–36), we conducted qualitative street interviews and desk research. We analyzed our findings using an Ishikawa root-cause diagram to pinpoint why traditional city marketing fails, alongside an assumption matrix to de-risk our concept before writing any code.
Target Audience & Persona Mapping
Based on our street interviews, we defined three distinct traveler archetypes within our 18–36 age group: The Underground Explorer (Lucas), The Cultural Enthusiast, and The Independent Creator.
To ground our feature set in real user psychology, we mapped out empathy profiles across all three segments. This ensured our app catered to the full spectrum of creative travellers—from those seeking raw, unfiltered side-street spots, to those hunting for deep cultural history or looking to document unique visual aesthetics.
From Generic Hunt to Designer Lens
We started by picking a theme Visit Antwerp gave us — nightlife and events — but interviews with young travellers made it clear that fashion and creative culture fit Antwerp’s identity much better, so we switched.
Our first idea was a general “hidden gems” treasure hunt — travellers follow clues to find spots locals recommend, instead of typical tourist attractions. It was a solid start, but in testing it felt disconnected: why Antwerp specifically, and not any other city?
The answer came from researching the city itself: Antwerp is the birthplace of the “Antwerp Six” — six fashion designers who put the city on the global fashion map in the 1980s, each with a completely distinct personal style (one dark and minimal, another loud and playful, another handmade and painterly). Almost nobody in our target audience had heard of them, but everyone got curious the moment they learned about them.
That became the concept’s anchor: instead of a generic hunt, you explore Antwerp through the eyes of one specific designer, and the places you find match that designer’s visual personality. Two people using the app on the same day picking different designers end up somewhere completely different — one led toward moody late-night bars, the other toward colourful underground spots.
Want to see the messy middle, every research sticky note, and user test feedback? Explore our full UX process and Figma board.
Designing the Visual System & ViewMaster Identity
Our first instinct was to design the app using Visit Antwerp’s official brand guidelines. However, once the concept was locked in, a rigid corporate tourism style felt too dry. The whole experience centers on a nostalgic ritual: capturing photos as you explore, which assemble into a personal digital ViewMaster reel at the end of your trip.
To bridge Visit Antwerp’s brand with this nostalgic aesthetic, we built a hybrid design system:
- Cross-Stitch Pattern System: Visit Antwerp’s identity uses a modern pixel pattern. We reinterpreted this as a physical cross-stitch grid. Visually pixelated at a distance, it directly references fabric, embroidery, and the craftsmanship of the Antwerp Six.
- ViewMaster Geometry: We extracted physical shapes from vintage ViewMaster discs — using 180-degree half-round container edges, notch cutouts, and circular reel layouts across card containers, navigation drawers, and photo frames.
Want to explore our Figma design evolution from early wireframes to the final high-fidelity system? Dive into each iteration stage below.
Refining the UX Through User Testing
We validated the UI through three rounds of usability testing on high-fidelity Figma prototypes. Each test exposed friction points that directly shaped the UI architecture:
App Architecture & Interface Details
We focused heavily on translating our Figma components into front-end code using React, TypeScript, and live Map API integrations:
- Interactive Map Layer: Custom styled map view with clue-radius circles instead of pinpoint markers, keeping the element of discovery intact until the user finds the location.
- Digital ViewMaster Souvenirs: Users can export their captured trip in two distinct formats—either as a static digital photo disc featuring their photos inside the ViewMaster frames, or as a custom Antwerp reel video that animates through their journey with nostalgic transition effects.
- Profile & Reward Scrapbook: Stores completed ViewMaster reels, discovered gems, photo galleries, and earned designer stickers. It also serves as a community hub where locals can contribute by adding their own hidden spots, giving users a tangible archive of their Antwerp trip.
Building the Physical Billboard Installation
To create a seamless bridge between the physical city and the digital app, we designed and built a working street billboard styled like a giant interactive ViewMaster.
The installation features a laser-cut enclosure housing an integrated ESP32 microcontroller, physical sensor, and elastic lever mechanism. Passing pedestrians pull the heavy mechanical handle, triggering a sensor that snaps the lever back and fires a signal to the display screen.
The screen instantly animates through a ViewMaster disc rotation, showcasing a featured designer’s bio, aesthetic keywords, and a QR code inviting users to download the app and start their hunt.
Final Result
Six Lenses turns exploring Antwerp into a personal, story-driven experience instead of a checklist of landmarks. By pairing a custom React mobile app with a physical street installation, we created an authentic experience tailored for Gen Z and Millennial travellers.
The full experience is hosted online — try it live using the sidebar link. See the button below to try it live.
What Worked
Connecting physical fashion heritage with tactile UX details — like cross-stitch patterns and ViewMaster micro-interactions — made the app feel like a custom editorial product rather than a standard GPS tool.
What I’d Improve Next
All testing was conducted on Figma prototypes rather than the live React build. Given more time, we would conduct field testing directly on the streets of Antwerp using real-time GPS tracking to evaluate clue radius accuracy and outdoor screen readability.
Want to inspect the front-end code, React components, and live Map API implementation? Explore the repository on GitHub.
