In order to advertise this project it was important to me to find a way to playfully integrate participants. While those who submitted work towards the finished website were anonymous, for the design of posters I recruited people I knew. Participants were invited to take part in a series of small, informal sit-down sessions during which they were encouraged to contribute fragments of personal memory through both drawings and written reflections. These ‘workshops’ were conceived as intimate and collaborative encounters, allowing participants to engage with the project in a manner that was both personal and self-directed. Rather than positioning participants solely as respondents, the process aimed to involve them more actively in the shaping of the project’s visual and emotional language.
Many participants expressed a desire to contribute to the design process itself, influencing the aesthetic direction of the work through their individual responses and visual marks. In recognition of the personal value attached to these contributions, participants were allowed to keep their completed booklets after they had been digitally scanned and archived. As a result, no physical copies remain available for flip-through documentation. This decision reflects the project’s emphasis on memory as something deeply personal, transient, and owned by those who experienced it.
Small A6 design was chosen due to the easy of filling out, a smaller page seeming less daunting to participants.
The visual design language of the booklet draws heavily from Romanian branding, particularly the graphic styles associated with traditional products, local shops, and everyday commercial imagery. These references were incorporated to bring familiarity and a sense of nostalgia.
