Passage Keeper

Project Overview

The stranger sitting beside on a long-haul flight, the hum of a city waking up in the rain, the warmth of a café tucked in a quiet alley—memories once vivid, now softened by time. But what if a forgotten boarding pass could bring them back?

This project imagines a future where someone finds an old, dust-covered ticket, only to realize it’s more than a record of transit—it’s a portal into another’s journey. By scanning it, the system extracts location details, generates an AI-powered travel story, and displays it on an OLED screen, offering a fleeting glimpse into the traveler’s past. Blurring the line between memory and fiction, it lets a long-lost trip resurface once more.

My Role

Interaction Designer

Type

Individual

Date

January 2025 - February 2025

Tool

Discover

Concept Map - Why boarding passes?

Storyboards

Interaction Process Diagrams

Delivery

Hardware Preparation & Connection

Process

User Interaction

The user presses a physical button to start the system.

Through sketches and ideation, I explored various ways to bring boarding passes to life, from RFID-triggered displays to AI-generated narratives and soundscapes. I considered how travelers might interact with these artifacts in unexpected ways—those small, often overlooked details that make an experience memorable.

Instead of simply focusing on the functional aspects of the boarding pass, I wanted to create a system that would surprise and engage users. For instance, I experimented with how random moments, like scanning a forgotten boarding pass, could trigger more than just a story—it could evoke a sudden emotional connection or memory.

Ultimately, I combined the strongest elements into a system where scanning the boarding pass not only extracts its location details but also generates a unique AI-powered travel story, offering an unexpected and dynamic experience on the OLED screen.

System Architecture Diagram

Sequence Diagram

Define

Brainstorm

Loss of Personal Narratives - Boarding passes are often discarded or kept as static mementos, but what if they could bring back forgotten moments? Inspired by small, unexpected details—like the hum of an airplane or a surprise find in a second-hand store—this design brings those fleeting moments back to life, turning a simple ticket into a window into someone’s journey.

Forgotten Context & Emotion - Over time, the emotions and sensations of travel fade, leaving only destinations and dates. My project revives these forgotten feelings by transforming the boarding pass into more than just a ticket. It becomes a portal to re-experiencing the subtle emotions that make a journey memorable.

Lack of Interaction - Traditional travel mementos are passive, offering no real interaction. By making the boarding pass trigger an AI-generated story, this design turns an ordinary object into an unexpected, interactive experience, inviting users to rediscover the emotional layers of travel.

Randomness & Unpredictability – Travel is full of unpredictability. I wanted my design to reflect that by allowing each boarding pass to trigger a unique, surprising story. Just like an unexpected moment can change the course of a journey, my project introduces a sense of randomness that keeps the experience fresh and full of discovery

Image Capture (ESP32S3 + OV2640)