Thank you :)
Surge Report has
been sent
40/60
80%
20%
SCAD Students
Seats Filled
Guests
Theatre 1 - Capacity
Aline, Intelligent Crowd Management
TIMELINE
10 weeks
ROLE
Product Designer
Interaction Designer
TEAM
Mrinalini Vodela
Divisha Kotawala
Melissa Almeida
AWARDS
Red Dot Design 2026
IDEA 2026
Indigo Gold - Wayfinding for Graphic Design 2026
Indigo Silver x5 Various Categories
TOOLS
Figma
Rhino 3D
Keyshot 11
Claude AI
THE PROBLEM
How can intuitive design bridge the gap between crowd safety and seamless event experiences?
We noticed event organizers lack a unified solution to monitor and manage dynamic crowd movement in real time: leaving attendees vulnerable to crowd crushing, time loss from navigating, and the disorientation of unfamiliar spaces.
MY ROLE
Dashboard UI, Prototyping & Physical Product Design
For this project, I designed the front-end interface for the organizer's dashboard, designed and rendered the physical product, including its functionality and how it would interact with the crowd environment, and prototyped all interactions to ensure organizers could navigate the system smoothly in fast-paced, high-pressure settings without hesitation.
CONTEXT
We've all been the person lost in the crowd.
Stuck in a crowd that's too full, unsure where to go next, watching the chaos unfold with no guidance and not knowing who to contact. That experience pushed us to dig deeper — we began researching the web, and found our insights confirmed: users were feeling the same.
Accidents in Events
88%
Caused by dynamic crowd movements
Attendee Needs
45%
Want an organized & efficient experience
Organization Defects
44%
Accidents from crowd bottlenecking
INSIGHTS
Large events are hard to navigate during peak transitions.
Attendees are left guessing while organizers only spot issues after congestion or problems form — without real-time visibility or guidance, both experience and safety suffer.
Like Autonomy
63% of attendees “just follow the crowd” when unsure where to go.
Reactive Crowd Management
Organizers only notice congestion once it has already formed.
Lack of Clear Direction
“I like having self-service tools that let me take control.”
So, how might we guide movement in real time to reduce congestion?
FOR ORGANIZERS, WE KNEW OUR PRODUCT NEEDED...
Data-Driven Decisions
A live dashboard that would surface crowd behavior and event data in real time, so every organizer call would be backed by evidence.
Pre-Planning
Pre-event routing and team training tools that would eliminate guesswork before the crowd ever arrives.
ML
Attention
Marcus Lee
“Wheelchair assistance with needed”
Just now
Alert Security
Faster Responses
Real-time alerts that flag crowd shifts the moment they happen, so organizers can act before the situation escalates.
FOR ATTENDEES, WE KNEW OUR PRODUCT NEEDED...
Event Clarity
Always know where to go, even in an unfamiliar venue — no confusion, no searching, and no need to ask around.
Better Guidance
Real-time crowd flow updates and in-app alert buttons that allow them to know where to go.
Follow the arrow to guide divert
yourself from the crowd crush
A Fuller Experience
A smoother, more connected event journey from entry to exit — less stress, more presence.
SOLUTION
A Connected Crowd Management Ecosystem
Aline keeps attendees informed and organizers aware of crowd needs and flow throughout the event. Built around a dashboard for organizers, an app clip that activates during the event for attendees, and IoT sensors that monitor crowd movement and keep everyone connected.
Dashboard
App Clip
IoT Sensor
THE DASHBOARD
Quick Onboarding
Set up your event easily before the event to keep track of it.
View Crowd Needs
Sensors track crowd movement and attendance in real time, with live app requests surfacing directly in the dashboard — one unified view.
Assist Quickly
Instant notifications when conditions change or help is needed. View and resolve issues in a single click.
THE APP
Easy Wayfinding
Tap via NFC to instantly access directions and event details, with arrival times calculated around nearby points of interest."
Explore on Your Terms
See what's happening around you in real time, like live crowd levels and lines, so you can plan your route and experience.
Quick Actions
Flag crowd surges, broken sensors, or request help from anywhere in the app — organizers are instantly notified of your location.
THE TRACKING SENSORS
The sensors track crowd movement, flow, and oxygen levels in real time, monitoring attendees as they enter and exit the space. Designed for flexible placement, they can be attached to flat surfaces or wrapped around objects, and light up to clearly indicate entry and exit points.
Crowd Monitoring Sensors
LiDAR
Motion Detector
Single-Point Thermal Sensor
Oxygen Sensor
Onboard Your Sensors
Choose your preferred sensor attachment, wall-mounted or wrap-around, and place them around your event space.
Keep Track
View activity recorded from the sensors, monitor their functionality, and easily reboot them directly from the dashboard.
Record Attendance
Attendance is automatically recorded when attendees tap the sensors, which also activates the app on their phones.
TESTING / ITERATING
We tested and gathered feedback from 20 users aged 18–45 (attendees and organizers) on the sensor, dashboard, and app UI designs — evaluating how the dashboard performed in a real setting and how users felt using the app & sensors at an actual event on our college campus' annual film festival.
We needed to make sure that exits were visible, instructions/ directional navigation was prioritized and crowds were organized to prevent overcrowding.
“Just knowing that my safety is a top priority. It’s hard to have fun in an event if you feel unsafe and are not in an environment that’s being monitored.”
- Jess
Users’ looked for...
Real Time Alerts on Safety, Timing and Event Flow.
“I expect like three main things when I go to an event on a usual basis: Areas to stay away from, crowd surges and danger zones.”
Product Sketches
Users were presented with two different sensor attachment designs, each effective for different event-zone environments — organizers and attendees preferred having both. This flexibility let them place sensors in high-traffic areas or open, wall-less spaces that still needed monitoring.
The first attachment mounts to a wall, while the second — a retractable band — wraps around poles, fences, or anything round in the event space. Both use a pill-shaped sensor that monitors attendance, oxygen levels, crowd density, rising heat, and motion to indicate how the crowd is moving around the space.
Sensor Attachement
Iterations
Users noted that the context on previous UI iterations were not enough so we developed components that had more in depth explainations on what the direction was and what the user needed to do to move seamlessly through the app and dashboard.
Sensor Malfunction
Sensor at the exit is inactive.
Sensor Malfunction
4 sensors at the exit are inactive since last 2 hours.
Notify Staff
In Conversation
10:00 am
Hannah
Bleacher
Panel
2:00 pm
Below
the Line
Workshop
10:00 am
Entertainment Law 101
See what’s next
Starting in 20 : 00
Crowd
Hedda
Starting in 18 : 00
Crowd at
Trustees Theater
Movie
Hedda
In Conversation
10:00 am
Hannah
Bleacher
Panel
2:00 pm
Below
the Line
Workshop
10:00 am
Entertainment Law 101
What’s Next
In Conversation
10:00 am
Hannah
Bleacher
Panel
2:00 pm
Below
the Line
Workshop
10:00 am
Entertainment Law 101
See what’s next
Starting in 30 : 00
02 : 00
Crowd
Heading to
Hedda
Concessions
In Conversation
10:00 am
Hannah
Bleacher
Panel
2:00 pm
Below
the Line
Workshop
10:00 am
Entertainment Law 101
See what’s next
Starting in 20 : 00
+ 4
Crowd
Heading to
Added Time
Hedda
Concessions
min
BUSINESS PLAN - EXPANSION
A stress-free event space for everyone.
We reviewed the business plan in depth to assess production costs and long-term scalability. Our go-to-market strategy begins with college campuses as our initial market, with a clear path to expanding into larger event spaces and venues.
Observed
The Event Experience Industry is Poised for Transformation
Projected to Be
$1.5 Trillion global events industry by 2028
With
Event tech growing at 12% CAGR
Scalable B2B SaaS Ecosystem
Hardware
+
Software
+
Data Model
