Idea
This passion project was created for a night-market-themed birthday party. One of the booths, "The Soothsayer Booth", combined a physical lot-drawing ritual with a digital experience built in Figma Make. Guests drew a physical fortune stick, then unlocked a corresponding digital fortune card on a website.
How to make this work?
Traditional fortune-telling rituals are fun and memorable, but in party settings they can feel one-sided and static.
How might we extend the ritual into a digital experience that adds surprise and delight?
How might we bridge offline and online so that guests feel both the tactile joy of drawing lots and the playful reveal of a digital fortune?
Research & Insights
Cultural rituals: Inspired by Taiwanese temple lots and Japanese omikuji (御神籤), where the suspense of drawing and the reveal are essential.
Event games: Night-market activities are usually quick, visual, and inclusive — no learning curve required.
What would the user need at this occasion:
Simplicity: Guests should understand the interaction in less than 10 seconds.
Delight: The reveal should feel festive and surprising. Also sending good vibes and messages through this interaction.
Share-ability: Guests want a digital artifact (screenshot) or a task that extends interaction.
Prototyping in Figma Make
Built an interactive prototype that simulates the reveal experience.
Added animations to mimic suspense (slight delay before showing results).
Outcome
Engagement: Nearly all guests participated in the booth, some multiple times.
Delight: Mini tasks like “take a photo with someone in blue” or “sing a birthday line” created spontaneous group moments.
Artifact: Guests saved screenshots of their fortune cards, extending the memory beyond the party.
Reflection
This project highlighted the power of phygital experiences. When digital design amplifies real-world rituals, it creates richer engagement. While built for a birthday event, the framework could easily scale to:
・Weddings (digital fortune keepsakes)
・Brand activations (interactive giveaways)
・Exhibitions (cultural storytelling with modern twists)