Collage-making workshop

A feminist, community-based collage workshop fostering storytelling, connection, and collective healing through art.

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Created: 2025

This speculative design project asks: What if, in 2100, we outsourced grief to artificial intelligence?

Through research into grief, mourning traditions, and how they are reshaped by climate change, digitalization, and globalization, the project investigates how grief itself becomes more layered, diffuse, and entangled with societal change — harder to process, harder to express.

Drawing on cultural contrasts between American market-driven individualism and Chinese collectivism shaped by state-led traditions, it imagines two possible worlds — one shaped by American individualism and the rise of commercialized self-care, the other by Chinese collectivism and state-guided rituals.

In the USgrief becomes part of a personalized self-care routine. Al companions guide individuals through spiritual-tech rituals, memory preservation, and emotional recovery — gently packaged and subtly commercialized.

In Chinamourning is addressed through a state-supported Grief Holiday program. Al companions guide citizens through structured rituals that blend tradition, emotional therapy, and government-led care — restoring balance and preserving social.

At the center of both scenarios is a wearable AI grief companion — a speculative technology designed to monitor emotional states, support memory processing, and mediate the grieving experience in ways shaped by cultural norms. One of its core functions is memory reconstruction, rooted in research on memory reconsolidation and Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR). During sleep, the AI companion subtly influences how memories are recalled and reshaped, helping individuals process loss.

Temple

In the US scenario, the device is called Temple — a name that evokes a sacred space for personal reflection and emotional healing.
The circular-shaped logo symbolizes the act of breaking the vicious cycle many grieving individuals find themselves in and opening a path toward healing.

YUN 云
*(Yún) = cloud

In the Chinese scenario, the device is called Yun — meaning “cloud” in Chinese, reflecting both cultural symbolism and the idea of collective connection. The logo combines a soft, flowing form with the subtle silhouette of a woman’s face, referencing Guānyīn, the Chinese goddess of compassion, to convey care, remembrance, and shared healing.

The visual storytelling direction uses AI-generated imagery to reflect each scenario’s cultural and emotional context. By leveraging region-specific AI tools the project creates visuals that resonate with the aesthetic and cultural nuances of each future world.

In the Chinese scenario, a specially designed Joss paper — inspired by traditional aesthetics and a cultural survey with Chinese participants — symbolizes the blending of heritage and future mourning practices. Traditionally used to honor ancestors, the Joss paper offering becomes a collective ritual act, supported by AI, that helps preserve memories and guide communal grief in a state-led context.

In the US scenario, a memory reconstruction animation visualizes how AI supports grief processing during sleep. Created with TouchDesigner, the dream-like projection onto a pillow symbolizes the subtle reshaping of memories. It represents a deeply personal, subconscious journey through loss.

Created: 2024-2025Developed by:
Mariia Orr
Farida Ahaieva
Kayhan Selcuk
Josefine Falk

Be the Help is an interactive pop-up experience where small acts create big change. Guided by a map, participants explore stations, uncover real stories, and not only witness the impact of Inter-NATIONAL CHILDREN Help e.V. (ICH) support but become a part of it.

At the heart of the journey, a glowing globe lights up with every donation, visually uniting efforts to make a difference. This experience inspires everyone to discover their power to help — because together, we can be the help.

The experience divided into three sections:Step 1. Introduction to Projects
Visitors begin their journey by exploring interactive stands that introduce selected ICH initiatives.

Step 2. Meeting the PeopleThis section includes three corridors where visitors hear personal stories, view photos through magnifying boxes, and engage with personal objects — creating a sensory connection to those impacted and the people behind ICH projects.

Step 3.Understanding Impact
In the final space, each donation lights up a spot on a large LED globe. A real-time tracker at the entrance updates instantly, highlighting the collective impact of every contribution.

Logo Concept:The logo combines three core elements to reflect the mission of ICH e.V.: a smiling face symbolizing joyful, supported children; a globe-shaped frame representing international reach and protection; and the ICH name. Together, they form a warm, recognizable mark that conveys hope, impact, and the organization’s global commitment to care.

Typography:

Colors:

Logo application:

AsWeAre

Created: January 2024Developed by:
Mariia Orr
Diamond Sledge
Larissa Marques Moraes
Seoyeon Hong

94% of people feel pressured to meet beauty standards. With generative AI reinforcing idealized images, the pursuit of perfection and resulting body shaming, especially among young women, grows more concerning.

AsWeAre is a prototypical AI photo stock and generator designed for designers and marketers, featuring portraits of real women with authentic skin textures. Trained on images showing six common skin conditions, it challenges unrealistic beauty standards in AI-generated visuals.Developed using AI-powered coding on Google Colab, the project promotes inclusive representation by offering diverse, natural portraits that reflect real beauty in media, advertising, and visual culture.

The project AsWeAre was featured in the “Punk & Participation” exhibition during Berlin Design Week 2024.

Created: July 2024Developed by:
Mariia Orr
Ekaterina Vorobeva
Monika Bronowicz
Diamond Sledge

Plan P is a speculative 2050 political concept where AI and Indigenous knowledge unite to address climate change through environmental justice, interspecies communication, and community-led governance.

The project uses design to imagine new political futures, challenging norms and inspiring reflection through visual identity, campaign materials, and a speculative platform rooted in empathy and ecological intelligence.

Supervision:
Prof. Henrik Rieß
Felix Müller
Prof. Alexander Tibus
B.A. Anna Bernhardt

Social Media Content

Created: 2023-2024

Developed and executed social media content for THE25, including content planning, post writing, filming and editing Reels, creating Stories and Highlights, and coordinating collaborations with UGC influencers.

Developed for: THE25

Also designed printed marketing materials such as flyers and promotional assets aligned with the brand’s visual identity.

Exberliner Poster

Created: June 2023
Supervision: Martin Hinze

Created for a university project with Exberliner magazine, this poster uses collage to reflect David Bowie’s emotional and physical state in Berlin. Three distinct collages explored varied cutting, ripping, and visual techniques.

The design was selected as the contest winner and featured in Exberliner magazine.

Created: June 2023

The Mark Twain Travel Letter Project brings Twain’s travel writings to life through handcrafted collages. Layered textures, shadows, and lighting evoke a melancholic mood, visually echoing the tone of his words.

Exberliner Poster

Created: June 2023
Supervision: Martin Hinze

Together We Thrive is a collage-making workshop that fosters a safe, supportive space for sharing personal stories. Rooted in collective resilience and feminist design, it encourages emotional expression, reflection, and connection through hands-on creative practice—transforming art-making into a shared act of healing, empowerment, and meaningful dialogue.
A reflection on the workshop was published in the Beyond Good Design collective publication.

Beyond Good Design

Created: June 2024
Supervision: Barbora Demovič, M.A.

The article Why Should You Organize a Workshop and How to Make It, published in the collective publication Beyond Good Design, offers a step-by-step guide to organizing creative, participatory workshops. Drawing on the Together We Thrive experience, it highlights art’s potential for emotional expression, shared healing, and community connection.

Funkstraße Typeface

Created: January 2024
Supervision: Sascha Bente

Inspired by Octopuss Tapeface by Colin Brignall (1970), Funkstrasse is a bold, dynamic typeface with extended baseline strokes and circular features. Balancing retro charm with modern energy, it’s perfect for posters, advertisements, and standout titles, capturing the vibrant spirit of the eighties with contemporary versatility. The project culminated in the creation of a specimen publication showcasing the typeface.

Created: April 2025
Developed by:
Mariia Orr
Alexandra Didikova
Veronika Pechova

Created during a two-day workshop, Sprinkles of Tiergarten
is a multimedia digital zine that explores the sprinkler system in Berlin’s Tiergarten. It combines facts about water usage with sounds recorded in the park, alongside GIFs and photos made from collected materials. Animated rainfall effects and a sprinkling cursor were coded to enhance the experience, resulting in a playful, sensory-rich exploration of Tiergarten’s hidden rhythms.

Beauty Standarts

Created: December 2023

Developed by: Mariia Orr
Diamond Sledge
Seoyeon Hong

This handmade zine critiques unrealistic beauty standards on social media through collage, magazine cutouts, and experimental printing, reclaiming authentic representation and celebrating imperfection in a layered, tactile format.This project’s themes and visuals inspired AsWeAre, expanding the dialogue on representation and norms.

Whoopie: App project

Created: January 2023

Developed by: Mariia Orr
Kateryna Tovstyha
Khaled Md Shariad

Whoopie is a concept app that supports children’s motor skill development through guided games using a smart, sensor-equipped ball. With playful visuals and real-time activity tracking, it promotes active play and well-being.Whoopie features hand-drawn illustrations and a clean interface, balancing playfulness with usability. Designed for children and caregivers, it encourages active play and supports physical and emotional well-being.

Posters

Created: 2023-2024

A selection of posters exploring visual storytelling, composition, and typographic experimentation.

ELM Brand Identity

Created: January 2025

Created the brand identity for ELM Active, a women’s activewear startup focused on everyday movement and confidence. The branding includes a modern, versatile logo, a calming yet empowering color palette, clean and functional typography, and supporting materials such as business cards and brand visuals. The overall identity reflects the brand’s values of strength, balance, and authenticity.

Personal Works

Created: 2022-2025

This ongoing body of work explores the intersection of analog and digital collage-making techniques. Through a process that includes cutting, layering, scanning, printing, and digital manipulation, the pieces reflect on themes such as identity, memory, and emotional states.

These works use gelli printing, stamping, and digital output to explore imperfection, intuition, and abstract storytelling through layered, experimental visuals.