The Inclusive Design Competition, launched by Tieto, Flow Festival, Young Finnish Design, and Inklusiiv earlier this year, has reached its conclusion. The winner was announced on Saturday, August 15, at Tieto's Flow Talks session, All Inclusive AI & Design, at Flow Festival.
The competition invited young designers through Young Finnish Design network from across Finland to explore how invisible barriers can affect participation, belonging and the overall festival experience. Nearly 60 designers applied, and three finalists were selected to develop concepts for a more inclusive Flow Festival experience.
The winner of the competition is Viola Rautaheimo, a student in the Master’s Programme in Information Networks at Aalto University. Her concept offers a new way of making festival experiences more inclusive by communicating soundscapes and volume levels across the festival area clearly and visually. This allows visitors to better anticipate different environments and choose spaces that best suit their individual preferences and needs.
"All three finalist concepts demonstrated a deep understanding of inclusivity and brought forward thoughtful ideas for improving the festival experience. Viola's winning proposal stood out through its simplicity, relevance, and potential impact. We were genuinely impressed by the creativity, professionalism and insight shown by all participants, and by their ability to identify aspects of the visitor experience that often remain invisible," says Vilja Grotenfelt, Sales & Marketing Director, Flow Festival.
Special Mention awarded to Katariina Valentin
In addition to the winning concept, the jury awarded a special mention to Katariina Valentin, a service design student at Savonia University of Applied Sciences.
Valentin's concept focused on helping festival visitors access support more easily and making individual needs more visible within the festival experience. The jury particularly appreciated the strength of the service design thinking behind the proposal.
The third finalist, Vilma Karisto, who studies Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at LAB University of Applied Sciences, developed a cohesive spatial concept designed to provide festival visitors with a calm and restorative environment. The jury was impressed by the concept's strong visual coherence and its thoughtful approach to creating a more inclusive festival experience.
Inclusivity through design
The competition was inspired by the shared values of Tieto and Flow Festival and by the theme of this year's Flow Talks discussion: inclusivity. Together with Young Finnish Design and Inklusiiv, the partners challenged young designers to identify barriers that might otherwise go unnoticed and to explore how design can help create experiences that work for a broader range of people.
"We wanted to invite young designers to look at the festival experience from new perspectives and identify barriers that are not always visible to everyone. The entries demonstrated how many different ways of inclusivity can be approached through design. We would like to thank all partners involved and especially the young designers who took part in the competition," comments Petra Tarkkala, Head of Design, Tieto Tech Consulting
Multidisciplinary jury evaluated the concepts
The competition entries were assessed by a multidisciplinary jury representing all partner organisations, including Petra Tarkkala, Head of Design at Tieto Tech Consulting Finland, Vilja Grotenfelt, Sales & Marketing Director at Flow Festival, Stiina Väänänen, Site and Service Production Manager at Flow Festival, and Katja Toropainen, Founder & CEO of Inklusiiv.
According to the jury, all three finalists demonstrated a thoughtful understanding of inclusivity and showed how design can help reveal and remove invisible barriers in everyday experiences
All Inclusive Design
The winner announcement took place as part of Flow Talks: All Inclusive AI & Design with Tieto, a public discussion exploring inclusivity in technology, artificial intelligence and design. The session brought together experts from technology, research, design, and society to discuss how we can build experiences that serve a wider diversity of people.
The competition was organised by Tieto, Young Finnish Design, Flow Festival and Inklusiiv as part of a broader collaboration to promote inclusive design, support emerging designers and encourage fresh perspectives on how experiences can be designed for more people.
Contact:
For further information, please contact:
Riina Virtanen, Marketing and Communication Lead, Tieto Tech Consulting Finland
Tieto Newsdesk, news@tieto.com, tel. +358 40 570 4072
Tieto is a leading software and digital engineering services company with global market reach and capabilities. We provide customers across different industries with mission-critical solutions through our specialized software businesses Tieto Caretech, Tieto Banktech and Tieto Indtech as well as Tieto Tech Consulting business. Our around 13 000 talented vertical software, design, cloud and AI experts are dedicated to empowering our customers to succeed and innovate with latest technology.
Tieto’s annual revenue is approximately EUR 2 billion. The company’s shares are traded on the NASDAQ exchange in Helsinki and Stockholm. www.tieto.com
Picture: Niko Raappana