" Surface Area of Serendipity" is a gamified interactive experience created by the CIID community to foster meaningful chance encounters between design students and visitors to the historic Astino Monastery in Bergamo, Italy.
The project addresses a key challenge: While CIID operates within this beautiful location, visitors often remain unaware of the creative community working inside, and meaningful interactions between locals and students rarely occur organically.
The team developed a collaborative drawing game inspired by the classic Etch A Sketch toy. The experience requires two players to begin, encouraging strangers to partner up and engage with one another. Before starting, participants must discuss and agree upon what they wish to create together, immediately sparking conversation and collaboration. Using a set of buttons, both players contribute to a shared digital canvas with distinct yet complementary roles.
The game's core mechanic divides control between participants: one player can only draw horizontal lines moving left or right, while the other exclusively controls vertical lines going up or down. This intentional constraint means neither person can complete a drawing alone—successful artwork emerges only through coordination, communication, and mutual understanding.
Research conducted through interviews with tourists, hikers, monastery visitors, and local residents revealed that many people feel uncertain about entering CIID spaces despite curiosity about what happens inside. The game transforms students into ambassadors, creating natural opportunities for exchange. Positioned in the monastery's courtyard, it invites passersby to participate during breaks, turning brief encounters into memorable shared experiences.
The project embodies the principle that thoughtful design interventions can expand the "surface area" where serendipitous human connections become possible, transforming a simple drawing challenge into a catalyst for community building.
