Portfolio

Props Fabrication

Titanic the Musical pre-show experience for CMU's School of Drama

Figma designs and 3D printing work for props for Titanic the Muscial pre-show.

ROLE Designer

TIMELINE 1 semester

Graphic Design - Prop Fabrication

I designed paper props for print on Figma to fit the Art Nouveau time period and replicated many old tickets, luggage tags, bottle labels, while also making tabloids, music programs, and magazines from scratch.

Fabrication on Figma

Closeup Props

Tabloid

Designed for second class passenger Alice Beane, who dreams of being first class, and knows all the latest gossip about the affluent!

Figma Design

Final Physical Prop

Luggage Tags

Fixed on each luggage piece, for the guests to identify the passengers and their class.

Figma Design

Final Physical Prop

Violin Engraving

Recreating a real-life item with paper. Bandleader Wallace Hartley, who had just gotten engaged to his fiancee Maria Robinson before the sinking, played a violin gifted to him by her with an engraving on it. The violin was found on his body, and we recreated the engraving with a paper printoutstuck to the instrument's tailpiece.

Figma Design

Final Physical Prop

Medicine Bottle and Prescription

For elderly first class passenger Ida Straus, who was travelling along the French Riviera with her husband, and was in poor health.

Figma Designs - Medicine Bottle

Figma Designs - Prescription Label

Final Physical Prop

Wine Bottle

Transforming a modern wine bottle into an 1858 Moet et Chandon!
Created for first class passengers, Isidor and Ida Straus.

Figma Designs - Wine Bottle Label

Final Physical Prop - we also added a long strip of black tape on the neck, for a more refined look.

Tickets

Tickets for all passengers' suitcases, to help guests identify the character and their class. We pinned edited black-and-white photographs of the actual cast member to these.

Figma Designs - Tickets - Version 1

Figma Designs - Tickets - Version 2. Image from online, edits made to change class, boarding location, ticket numbers.

Final prop, with an image of the actor in character.

Music Program Brochure

Brochure for an old music programme Wallace Hartley may have attended. Art nouveau-inspired, using some real advertisements from the period.

Figma Designs

Final Physical Prop

Music Setlist

Also for the bandmaster, Wallace Hartley, a music setlist for the night. The final prop was aged with tea, and had handwritten annotations on it, too.

Final Physical Prop

Launch Stubs

For the Captain's suitcase, items from the launch of the ship and the luncheon to celebrate it, a year before it set sail.

Figma design and final physical props, top-left corner.

Letters and Telegrams

Papers with the ship or the liner's regalia, which we later wrote on.
Telegrams which were written or printed on.

Letters - Figma design and final physical props.

Telegrams - Figma design and final physical props.

3D Printing and Audio Interactions

I also designed and 3D printed old telephone receivers for us to attach our speakers to, as playtesting showed that people felt our original, anachronistic phone handsets looked out of place and weren't loud enough.

3D printing our speakers and holders

🤔 Problem

Guests may not place the telephone receivers in the correct orientation with the magnetic sensors, breaking the circuit unintentionally.

🧠 Design Thinking

How do we make orientation irrelevant? The ideal solution is one that works regardless of how users interact with the object.

💡 Solution

Added copper strips all along the receiver and its holder so that the circuit closes no matter which way it's placed.

Testing with (1)magnetic sensors and (2)copper strips as a conductor, to detect when the earpieces are picked up vs. put down

Using the copper strips helped us solve the issue of ensuring people always put down the earpiece in the correct orientation for it to count as "closed" and for the audio to stop. Now, the earpiece can be spun anyway you want, and only reads as "open" when it is lifted up off the holder.

Earpieces on the final luggage installation!

Reactions! (Photographer: Jose Mireles)

Final Lobby Experience

April 2025, the lobby is set up for the musical, and we learn surprising things from guests and how they interact with the installation!

The following videos were directed and filmed by Sarah Wille, our producer.

Alice and Edgar Beane - demonstrated by Jasmin

Wallace Hartley - demonstrated by Devika

Marconi Room Telegram Station - Demonstrated by Anna

Project Design Production

My role also involved designing the project's logo, poster, and the half sheets that would tell visiting guests at the ETC what our team does and what our project is about.

Presenting... Team Encore!