Thomas Laureyssens
Interaction designer (PhD)
I design games, installations and apps that get people involved — in public space, in museums and in organisations.
I also advise cities, museums and companies on participation strategy, digital strategy, service design and co-creation.
See my work · Send me an email
I have worked for and with
Openluchtmuseum Bokrijk · imec · BNP Paribas Fortis · Proximus · Alcatel-Lucent · ACA Group · Tree Company · OpenDoek · Constant · Urban Species · LUCA School of Arts (KU Leuven) · Innoviris
What I do
Public space
Interactive installations and urban games that bring people together in the street and make participation tangible: residents, but just as much whoever happens to pass by. For Ghent I contributed to ZWERM, a neighbourhood game in which two districts competed through interactive trees and whistling sparrows, in a consortium with iMinds (now imec), Alcatel-Lucent and the City of Ghent, where I took on the product design of the game components. With Brussels-based research group Urban Species I worked on participation in the city for years, from action research in the pedestrian area (p-lab) and a do-it-yourself participation toolkit (SUCIB) to speculative urban futures (specXcraft). More recent installation work leans towards experiment: light and imagery playing with the architecture itself, and the city not only as a place for the people living in it, but also for the other species.
Museums
Games and installations that open up heritage without dumbing it down. For Openluchtmuseum Bokrijk I coordinated the Bruegel Game within a creative team: a two-kilometre game route with ten stops, AR games and a treasure hunt with RFID wristbands, for the exhibition The World of Bruegel.
App product design
From user research and strategy to interface design, and from concept to App Store. If you already work with your own developer, I take on the substance and keep an eye across research, strategy and design. I bring AI into all of it, but above all into the building: I code with AI. That makes very short iterative cycles possible, and it lets you go further in interface design and in features that would otherwise not make it in. Most recently I built Imagoria (imagoria.app), a contemplative app for iOS and Android that makes imagining and reflecting on your own future accessible.
Design research
I hold a PhD from LUCA School of Arts (KU Leuven) on the appropriation of interactive interventions in urban public space. My research paper on ZWERM received a Best Paper Honorable Mention at CHI 2014, the leading international conference on human-computer interaction. With Urban Species I coordinated SUCIB (Innoviris Anticipate, 2017–2022): a do-it-yourself toolkit with which Brussels residents build participation installations in the street themselves, resulting in policy recommendations for the Brussels Region. Then came specXcraft (2022–2024), on how speculative imagination can make Brussels residents more resilient.
Consultancy
Digital strategy, service design and participation strategy — embedded in your team or as an external sounding board. At ACA Group I work as a service designer and digital strategist on, among other things, a gamified e-learning app.
Workshops & talks
Co-creation sessions and mapping workshops, built on MAP-it, the participatory cartography method I co-developed. And making workshops in which participants get creative with projection mapping, LED and laser. As a speaker: TEDxGhent (Play Social in the City). Eighteen years of teaching experience at LUCA School of Arts. More on talks and workshops
Work
-
Bruegel Game
A 2 km game route through the museum park, marking 450 years of Bruegel.
-
Pedestrian Levitation
Pedestrians cut up a crossing and push it up a facade. Where my work on appropriation began.
-
specXcraft
Speculative crafting for un/common futures, with a book publication (EN/FR).
-
Imagoria
A contemplative app for iOS and Android, designed and built with AI.
-
p-lab
Action research into new forms of urban participation, with the Brussels piétonnier as its laboratory.
-
SUCIB
A DIY toolkit that lets Brussels residents build their own participation installations in the street.
-
Neighbourhood Light Choreography
A whole street became one light installation, made from the inhabitants' own lamps.
-
ZWERM
A neighbourhood game across two districts, honoured at CHI 2014.
-
Quand Les Zoziaux
An urban game around whistling sparrows: 194,000 whistles and a neighbourhood that added plenty of its own.
-
Hiveboard
A portable LED board that makes progress visible in digital skills classes.
-
MAP-it
Participatory mapping toolkit, open source and free to use.
-
ACA Group
Service design and digital strategy for e-learning.
About
I am an interaction designer and researcher based in Antwerp and Brussels. For twenty years I have worked where play, participation and public space meet — from urban games and museum installations to apps. I choose projects that matter to communities, and prefer to work with organisations that feel the same.
Contact
Thomas Laureyssens
+32 3 332 06 17
hallo@thomaslaureyssens.be
LinkedIn