Love letters to the Future was a global transmedia campaign aimed to raise awareness about the rapidly expanding dangers of climate change. Supported by Greenpeace International and a group of NGOs, Love Letters to the Future was a narrative game-like experience across the web, mobile and urban spaces.
Through the primary website, loveletterstothefuture.com, players were invited to share their own message to the future through video, text and images. The best messages were selected for inclusion in a time capsule to be recovered in 100 years.
Using the structure of this custom website, a Alternate Reality Game narrative played out. Mysterious messages signed ‘Maya’ began to pepper the participant uploaded-content. By using the website search box, players could locate these messages and follow the communications from Maya, a woman from the future who could offer a glimpse into the effects of climate change in her world.
Role: Experience Design
Working with Xenophile Media, I designed the flow of communications that players received from ‘Maya’. Because these were embedded in the website, special care was employed to make them intutively searchable and distinct from the player-contributed content. Updates worked within the established format of player contributions, meaning that each must use a limited palette of media to create a stream of fresh content.
Each update included a puzzle, riddle, or other content that required the active participation of the players to discover and unlock the next stage. Over the six weeks during which the character of Maya was actively communicating, we produced two updates per day allowing the global audience to have an equal chance to participate. In addition to designing each update, I oversaw the execution of these updates in formats ranging from images, video, audio, and augmented reality.
