Invasive Species

Interaction & motion design for urban futures

Uncovering how data reshapes the urban landscape

Motion Design AR Object Design

“Invasive Species” is a project exploring urban spaces at the intersection of the physical and the digital, with a focus on surveillance, networks, seamless interaction and critical futures. Supported by SWA Group, the work materializes as a set of moving visuals and interactive gestures that reframe how urban conditions can be perceived and experienced.

Contribution

- Developed the overall visual system for the project: motion, and compositing

- Designed and produced animation sequences used in talks, exhibitions, and social media

- Created AR-enabled coasters that extend the project into small-scale, everyday interactions

Design challenge

To make the invisible visible — to translate the city’s hidden digital networks into a legible visual language. The challenge was to surface what usually operates quietly in the background and give form to the diffuse, interconnected systems shaping contemporary urban life. What if environments could adapt to the shifting moods and needs of their inhabitants through a dynamic, digital layer?

Outcome

After multiple design sessions, ongoing exchanges with Ozan Şen, and several rounds of reframing, we focused on revealing the city’s unseen network — the subtle digital and spatial layers that extend beyond physical boundaries. The project draws from Mitchell’s insight that: “We are not fully contained within our skins; our extended networks and fragmented habitats make us spatially and temporally indefinite entities.” — Mitchell, W. J. (2003). Me++: The cyborg self and the networked city. MIT Press.


Working with Tugce was a genuinely collaborative process. She engages deeply with conceptual frameworks while translating research-driven ideas into compelling visual stories. Her work was instrumental in shaping how the project communicated across scales, from spatial systems to experiential atmospheres. -Ozan Sen