interactive queueline.
UX/UI Design
Interaction Design
Animation
Branding
Sound Design
Music
Product owner; Myself and Hogeschool Rotterdam
Contractor; Leisure Expert Group (LEG)
Duration; 5 months
For my graduation internship, I joined Leisure Expert Group in Amsterdam. They are a design studio specializing in designing for the leisure industry. Think; themeparks, haunted hauses, festivals and museums. So for me, this was the perfect environment to combine my fascination for sensory stimuli with experience design.
For six months, I researched and designed how the waiting experience in theme parks could be turned from a frustrating necessity into a meaningful part of the overall experience. The result was an interactive, partly physical and partly digital queue installation where families can choose their own way of waiting, which I called 'Choose to Chill'.
This project was very well received by both Leisure Expert Group and my lecturers, and I graduated with a 9.3.
THe design question.
"How can young parents feel more relaxed while waiting in lines at themeparks, by using an interactive system that uses sensory stimuli?"
what i designed.
Queue layout & choice moments.
The queue is designed around freedom of choice. Early on, visitors can pick between three different routes: a playful route for families with young children, a regular route for visitors who just want to wait, and an interactive route for guests who want to dive deeper into the story. Later in the queue, a second choice moment allows visitors to switch lanes and escape from other groups if needed.
Playful route.
For parents with children aged 0–8, this route transforms waiting into play. Kids can enjoy a themed playground with slides, ball pits, and small rides, while parents relax on benches and swings. Subtle storytelling elements are still present, but the focus is on fun and distraction for children and rest for parents.
Regular route.
This route is designed for visitors who prefer a traditional queue. Guests experience the attraction’s story mainly through visuals and audio, without extra interaction. It offers calm theming, atmospheric music, and subtle environmental storytelling – ideal for those who want to wait passively.
Interactive route.
This path is aimed at guests who want to actively engage with the story. Equipped with an interactive wristband, visitors can trigger a bunch of different projection-based challenges, varying from reaction games (like a digital “Red Light/Green Light”) to cooperative storytelling moments where visitors help the main character achieve a goal. All interactions are supported by multisensory design: synchronized sound, light, and even scent effects enhance immersion.
Storytelling.
In this queueline, the guests themselves become the protagonists. They experience the adventure themselves, by playing the different interactions. By completing an interaction/game successfully, the guests earn puzzle pieces. These pieces are to be collected and brought back to their 'home base', where they use the separate pieces to complete the full puzzle. This way, the separate interactions seem to be connected to a bigger narrative. It makes the experience a complete story.
High-fidelity installation.
The final prototype was a physical installation combining RFID/NFC wristbands, projection mapping, soundscapes, and environmental effects. Visitors could actually “play” and move through a part of the queue, testing how choice, interactivity, and sensory design change the experience of waiting.
what i learned.
Presenting more effectively.
During my internship I learned to make my presentations more concise and practical. By practicing with short updates for Leisure Expert Group and Slagharen, I became better at focusing only on the insights and design choices that mattered most.
New research and design methods.
I deliberately stepped outside of my comfort zone by using methods I had not applied before, such as Shadowing, Behavioral Mapping, Lotus Blossom, and Random Word brainstorming. This broadened my toolkit and gave me richer insights and ideas.
Sound design.
I deepened my knowledge of how music and sound influence emotions. Reading This is Your Brain on Music and sparring with one of LEG’s in-house sound designers gave me practical insights into how soundscapes can shape atmosphere in themed environments.
Finding my own design proces.
Most importantly, I discovered that prototyping is my way of designing. By building, testing, and iterating quickly, I not only learned more effectively but also enjoyed the process much more. This helped me shape a personal design style that fits me best.
Reflecting and redefining the goal.
In the end, I realized that my installation doesn’t always create “calm” in the literal sense, but it does provide choice, distraction, and playful engagement. In a theme park, these are just as valuable, because waiting is transformed into part of the fun.