Me.
A collective museum where teenagers explore otherness and express their own
Context
Politecnico di Milano_
Final Synthesis Studio_
Team project_
Role
Web App designer
Activities
> Quantitative & qualitative research
> Visual identity
> Web App design
> IG page creation
Timeline
2022 - 2023
Research activities
Quantitative research
Analysis of the most commonly marginalised groups: culture and ethnicity, disability and neurodivergence, gender and sexual orientation.
Intercept
The questions focused on students’ perception of the concept of “otherness”. They were asked to associate it with the first word that came to mind and write it down on a small whiteboard.
Interviews
Interviews with two experts were fundamental to the research, providing a perspective more closely connected to the relationship between otherness and the city of Milan.
Focus group
The activity was carried out in collaboration with ViviCivico, an inclusive socialisation project, and consisted of an initial game, an artistic activity and interviews with the participants.
Research insights
Our focus
Target
Adolescents aged 14–18.
User needs
Adolescents need a safe space where they can independently and consciously engage with their peers, discover different perspectives and have open conversations.
Our goal
> Present otherness as something individual, but at the same time shared and transversal.
> Redefine otherness as a valuable resource and an asset to the community.
> Create an opportunity for self-discovery and the affirmation of personal identity.
Concept
Me. is a “collective museum”: a safe space where people can explore the multitude of forms of otherness and, in return, express their own.
A place where there are no categories or universally defined notions of otherness. Instead, it is an invitation to discover and share each person’s uniqueness, without judgement or expectations.
Me. comes from the combination of two elements: “Me” and the punctuation mark “.” (“full stop”).
The personal pronoun “Me” represents the most individual and intimate sphere of the self, framing otherness as something unique and personal.
The full stop conveys a sense of certainty and affirmation of one’s essence and personality, as if saying: “This is me.”
Web App flow
IG page creation
Here the prototype of Me. Web App
Takeaways
The reactions to the project became a major source of inspiration for improving the experience and observing the project’s growth through the eyes of the adolescents who would eventually use it. After an initial sense of embarrassment and hesitation, the participants shared a wide range of thoughtful and interesting responses, reflecting some of the challenges adolescents face in their everyday lives.
And that is precisely the goal of Me.: to break down the walls of distrust and discomfort and discover that, even within our apparent differences, there are experiences and emotions that connect all of us.