How can we use the metaverse to communicate sustainability? As the host of the sustainability-focused Global Fashion Conference 2022, the Design Faculty (Akademie für Mode & Design, AMD) of the Hochschule Fresenius - University of Applied Science decided to provide a virtual environment for sustainability stakeholders in the fashion domain. With the transformation of exhibitions and conferences during the years of the covid pandemic, a need to create new environments for sustainable projects in the digital world arose. The AMD Marketplace delivers a solution to these challenges, providing an online showcase for exhibitors and guests from all over the world, without the carbon footprint entailed by travel. It also fosters an exchange between academic participants and sustainability stakeholders, as well as wider audiences.

The online Marketplace provides the first digital showcase of fashion sustainability stakeholders. After securing over 30 key exhibitors, the organizing committee assigned the design and technical implementation, which had to be developed within a tight deadline of just over two months. The development team was assembled by the technical lead, consisting of students from different fields of study, allowing everyone to contribute their individual skills, and rapid progress at every front. Developed as a proof of concept by AMD for the GFC 2022, the virtual Marketplace uses digital media architecture not only to showcase sustainability: it creates a new convivial way of bringing together experts from fashion theory and practice and during academic conferences and allows reaching broader audiences. The online world playfully references the old European marketplaces, which allowed for both the trade of goods and the exchange of ideas: a space for the collaborative process of establishing new values. The open, central core space is surrounded by 10 houses, each with a different theme with matching exhibitors, ranging from sustainability pioneers to associations to designers supporting the Sustainable Development Goals. It includes projects by major stakeholders such as the UN, the EU commission, and the German Fashion Council, as well as for innovative sustainable projects by recent graduates. It was accessible to all registered participants of the Global Fashion Conference 2022, as well as to a wider audience.

https://reality-twist.com/marketplace/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNkOb6zWfW0

Poster

Details

Team members : Daniel Horne (Technical Lead) ; Aron Schlemmer; Jonah Jurowich; Karin Kolatka; Vanessa Emde; Margaux Troschier; Phil Aschenbrenner; Tristan Blaukat; Matthias Baudrexl; Jasper Scheck (as workstudents at Reality Twist GmbH); Creative Lead: Judith Brachem (AMD Alumni)

Supervisor : Prof. Ulrike Nägele, Dean Design Faculty (AMD); Prof. Claudia Ebert-Hesse, Dean International Affairs (AMD); Katharina Sand, Visiting Professor (AMD); Prof. Clemens Hochreiter (Dean Game Design & Management, Hochschule Fresenius)

Institution : Hochschule Fresenius - University of Applied Science ©AMD Akademie Mode & Design

Partners : Reality Twist GmbH . For a comprehensive List of Exhibitors, including AMD and Ecosign graduates and Game credits: see marketplace.reality-twist.com

Descriptions

Technical Concept : The construction of the space allows for exploration and the opportunity of direct exchange in a live conference room during an assigned timeslot through the integration of Zoom access. The development goals were flexible in their complexity, while still containing a hard deck of constraints. Design features were used to improve the user experience for a target audience predominantly unfamiliar with virtual spaces. Access to the marketplace is gained by downloading the App, requiring no registration. Navigation relies on elements in the color red, and is simplified by point-to-point movement, allowing for displays to be optimized towards a single position in the room. Viewing content close-up allows quick navigation between the other displays to cut “travel time” short. A special feature was the direct access to the online conference board in the Meeting House.

Visual Concept : The general aesthetic of this project was designed in a white Box style in an attempt to highlight the exhibitors' creations and contents. This rather neutral baseline was married with an array of dreamy, organic elements with the intention to transport the user into a surreal world that reminds one of „Alice in Wonderland''. To keep a clear sense of orientation, the interior architecture was designed so that the user is able to easily identify all the individual elements from a single location in the center of the room. To support this, each room's structure was planned in a way, in which the user's attention is intuitively guided through the exhibition. Since every building housed an individual theme catalog, we wanted to mirror this in the interior and exterior style, leading to a unique and new experience each time.

Credits

Image credit ©AMD

Image credit ©AMD

Image credit ©AMD

Image credit ©AMD