Designpilgrimage

The Challenge
Daily routines often pass unnoticed, reduced to functional movement from one place to another. The challenge of Mapping My Journey was to investigate how a repetitive commute from Limburg to the Design Academy Eindhoven could be transformed into a meaningful visual narrative. How can design make the ordinary visible, and how can personal observation become shared insight.

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The Concept
The project began with systematic observation. Highlights along the route were documented and translated into initial sketches. This evolved into a more extensive mapping process, cataloguing elements visible on both sides of the journey. The scale and structure of the map were directly informed by this research.

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To broaden the perspective beyond the personal, interviews were conducted with others connected to the route. Their stories, associations and experiences added new layers to the visual language, turning the map into a collective reflection rather than a purely autobiographical document.

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Multiple prototypes were developed and tested. Feedback led to refinements in composition, including the introduction of additional white space to improve clarity and rhythm. The final map was printed in collaboration with a trusted partner, ensuring that material quality supported the conceptual depth.

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The Outcome
Mapping My Journey transforms a daily commute into a carefully constructed visual system. The project demonstrates how attentive observation, research and dialogue can elevate routine experience into narrative form. What begins as a personal route becomes a designed artefact that invites others to reconsider the unnoticed landscapes of their own everyday movement.

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