portfolio of my works in the past 3 years

1. Yulya
Besplemennova
ybdesigning@gmail.com
medium.com/@yulya
medium.com/@coonsfromspace
it.linkedin.com/in/ybdesigning
I am a multidisciplinary designer:
areas of work&interests:

2. #nevicata14 was a project of ta temporary pedestrian
configuration of Castello square in Milan during EXPO-
2015. It was a square built from collective dream. “Nevi-
cat14” in Italian stands for “snowfall of 2014” - a vision
which we proposed to transorm a former road in a middle
of conflict between city administration and citizens into a
shared open space where all citizens were invited to
create their story from the blank page. When our
approach was selected to be implemented, we proceeded
expanding the arhictectural project into a project of public
communication. This led to the positive change in
citizens’ perception of space and its definitive pedestrian
transformation.
There were numerous participatory activities implement-
ed: kick-off workshop, open Facebook page, meetings
with citizens during all the process and especially one
month of events to introduce the square - #nevica-
ta14LAB. Initial narrative helped also to build identity of
this new place for which we worked to activate it and
bring citizens to contribute to its new life.
#nevicata14
storytelling, participative process
#urbanspace,#co-design,#formfollowsfiction
role: project coordinator, lead designerwith Guidarini-Salvadeo & Interstellar Raccoons
nevicata14.tumblr.com/
facebook.com/nevicata14
bit.ly/n14_futurecapetown
bit.ly/n14LAB
#nevicata14
storytelling, participative process

3. As we understood the need to overcome perception of
new square as an empty street we needed not just a
physical intervention but coordination of efforts to
activate it. For all the duration of installation we were
working to attract as many events as possible as well as
to communicate the informal uses of space. Besides
communication we developed the website to connect all
the events and services available in the space and have
explained it in the signs in the square (which also had
Wifi to access the digital extension of its space).
This new hybrid space became a sort of media platform
which also interested sponsors and producers of the
furniture installed there so that we could double the
initial budget thanks to their discounts in return for the
high quality of communication of their brands. This way
we have tested a new business model making a physical
space creation more sustainable thanks to the added
value of its digital layer and its capacity to reach more
people and increase visibility.
#nevicata14
curated hybrid space
#hybridspace,#mediaplatform,#publiccommunication
role: project coordinator, lead designerwith Guidarini-Salvadeo & Interstellar Raccoons
nevicata14.it
bit.ly/designing_n14
http://bit.ly/n14_identity
medium.com/nevicata14-story

4. This was the work that changed my view on how the
urban space functions and the moment when I decided I
wanted to work on the new “hybrid space” condition.
During the thesis process I performed a deep theoretical
research to understand how public spaces change with
Internet adoption and what could be the role of urban
Wi-Fi service in the reinvention of new public realm.
To understand better the local context I had performed
observations in 3 places in Milan looking at people
interactions and talking to them to better undertand their
behaviour and opinion about urban spaces in general
and use of Wi-Fi and Internet access to communicate in
them.
My final project was about redefinition of the existing
OpenWifiMilano service in order to become more
suitable for the needs of various users and to create a
platform for the other urban services to become integrat-
ed with it for the general benefit of the city and citizens.
Eterea: new urban
wifi landscape
#hybridspace,#servicedesign,#ethnography
Thesis for Product-Service System Design Master Program in Politecnico di Milano
bit.ly/issuu_eterea
bit.ly/medium_eterea

5. Ceramic Futures was an online/offline workshop between
leading European design and art schools where groups
of students were working locally offline and communicat-
ing all the process online in the or Google+ community.
For the 2nd adn 3rd edition I was a co-tutor for the
Politecnico di Milano group. We developed the methodol-
ogy of this learning environment approach basing it
partially on speculative design concepts, but mostly
improvising and putting together new tools, like design
approach patterns, rituals and future maps.
With this approach and flexible individual guidance for
each student, Politecnico students won Top of the Top
nomination for the 2nd and 3rd years of the workshop.
Besides specific methods we created this process as an
open multidisciplinary environment bringing students of
various specialisations as much as possible beyond the
academic classrooms and making them collaborate and
help each other in different expertise areas.
Ceramic Futures
#hybridspace,#learningenvironment,#speculativedesign
bit.ly/method_book
bit.ly/making_cf
ceramicfutures.com
role: co-tutor, coordinatorwith Interstellar Raccoons

6. Master Relational Design is an itinerant hybrid Master of
1st Level. During one year students participate in didactic
activities split into 4 weeks-long modules both online (in
the community on Google+) and offline—having monthly
workshops. The core of the course is its focus on relational
aspects of design and community-based process.
We have curated modules in 2 editions of RD:
2014: Mobility and Vehicles—in partnership with FIAT
research center, focused on development of future
scenarios in mobility.
2015: Urban Thinking—in partnership with Polymnia
Venezia and M9. Module was focused on how social
innovation in retail can help to shape new M9 district in
Mestre in connection with existing urban canvas and
relations within local community.
Relational Design
#hybridspace,#learningenvironment,#codesign
bit.ly/RelDes1
bit.ly/RelDes2
relationaldesign.it
role: co-tutor, coordinatorwith Interstellar Raccoons

7. Interstellar Raccoons is the plarform and network for
design knowledge sharing and creation. It has started
with the desire to reflect on our work and learn from it at
the same time discussing finding with others.
We have created the story of fictional identity of Raccoons
in order to liberate ourselves from the assigned expertise
and be able to detach from work itself.
Further it transformed also into exploration of the role of
fiction in mediated world we live as imaginarium of
Raccoons has raised suspicions of the existance of a
secret mission with more animal species in space than we
thought, about which public has never found out.
The principle of “Design beyond terrestrEality” is what
guides us in exploration of space (in broadest terms)
issues, development of understanding of role of immagi-
nation and speculative approach to complex problems
that we face in contemporary world.
Interstellar Raccoons
#hybridspace,#designfiction,#communication
medium.com/@coonsfromspace
bit.ly/coons_approach
role: founder, illustrator and content creator

8. The Floating Piers and Production
and Consumption of Hybrid Space
Zarya is the new entity, which I'm developing, dedicated
to the exploration and design of the hybrid space - social
space existing in more than one dimension (physical/digi-
tal, material/intangible, real/fictional, etc).
With the spread of mobile devices, social media, ubiqui-
tous internet connection, augmented reality and many
other technologies all the space around us has gone into
the new state which has its own (hybrid) rules and logics
but is still not that well understood.
Unnecessary divisions and contradistinctions of digital
and physical, real and virtual, fictional and actual have
caused serious damage to the understanding of the
continuous experience of people inhabiting this new
environment. This is the gap which Zarya aims to bridge
defining the holistic approach to the hybrid space and
interactions within it.
Zarya
/hybrid space lab/
#hybridspace,#research
bit.ly/int_tinder
bit.ly/pokefetish
medium.com/zarya-hybridspace-lab
bit.ly/floating_piers
role: founder, designer & researcher

9. Routes Software is a Russian-Italian company aiming at
improving the travelling experiences with technological
solutions.
Main project we’re developing is the Routes.tips platform
to share user-generated “routes” - automatically regis-
tered itineraries which permit users to review their travels
on the map and share insights about the places they live
in or visit.
Another app with created is Bergamo Quest - kind of
intellectual Pokèmongo - geolocated treasure hunting
game to discover hidden gems of the city. In parallel we’re
working on other projects involveing Augumented reality
and chatbots technologies to assist travellers.
My role is to create a human-centered design process in
the tech-domincated collective and to guide all the
service and UX design decisions based on the work with
real users and their inputs.
Routes Software
#hybridspace,#servicedesign,#ethnography
routes.tips
facebook.com/bergamoquest
role: strategic and service designer

10. As I work on the projects that mostly involve high level of
complexity and a lot of people collaborating, the best way
to rest for me is to create something simple on my own.
It’s been more than 18 years since I entered the children
arts school for the first ime and since then I’ve never gave
up drawing, sketching, making different things by hand.
Nowadays my favorite activities are life-drawing, serigra-
phy, lino-cut and handmade stamps creations, as well as
illustrating various complex topics which I write about
with the same level of complexity in artworks.
But besides arts I was also always interested in tech and
grew up in the house full of microchips, old computer
details, punchcards and other curious objects. Therefore I
also tried to learn coding (Processing, VVVV) and paid
attention to the development of makers and physical
computing trend, attending workshops and creating my
own (not very) smart objects.
Personal projects
#physicalcomputing,#creativecoding,#artsandcrafts
Thank you!