SYSTEM OUTPUT
PROJECT // READY
CASE STUDY / CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Caganer XR
What if a souvenir could play with you?
A Mixed Reality product concept that transforms the traditional caganer into a personalized, interactive and potentially physical souvenir. Created by a three-person team during SensAI Hack Barcelona 2025 and developed into a working XR demo in under 48 hours.
event
SensAI Hack Barcelona 2025
TYPE
Collaborative Hackathon Project
ROLE
UX Designer & Creative Lead
YEAR
2025
prototype time
48 hours
scope
Product Concept · UX Research · UX/UI Branding · Mixed Reality · Phygital Experience
team
3 people
technology
Meta Quest · Unity · Meta SDK · WebXR
status
Functional XR prototype
Presented & published
Context
A souvenir usually stops being an experience once you buy it.
The project started during SensAI Hack Barcelona, an event focused on XR, AI and computer vision.
While discussing possible directions as a team, we became interested in the souvenir as a surprisingly static product.
It represents a place, tradition or memory, but the interaction usually ends at the moment of purchase.
We asked whether mixed reality, personalization and humor could extend that relationship beyond the object itself.
THE OPPORTUNITY
From cultural object to personal experience.
We chose the caganer because it already combines tradition, character and humor.
Rather than simply recreating it in 3D, we imagined a product where the visitor could become part of the souvenir.
The long-term concept was simple: capture your face, create your own digital caganer, place it in your physical environment, play with it, and optionally turn it into a personalized physical object.
STATIC SOUVENIR >> PERSONALIZATION >> DIGITAL CHARACTER >> MIXED REALITY >> PLAY >> PHYSICAL COLLECTIBLE
THE PRODUCT VISION
The full idea was bigger than the prototype.
01 CAPTURE
Take or upload a portrait.
02 PERSONALIZE
Apply your face to a digital caganer.
03 COLLECT
Save the character to your account.
04 ENTER MR
Place it inside your physical environment.
05 INTERACT
Grab, throw, push and trigger animations.
06 MAKE IT PHYSICAL
Optionally order a personalized figure.
PRODUCT VISION
Not every stage was implemented during the hackathon.
PRIORITIZING THE MVP
48 hours changes what “essential” means.
The original concept connected facial personalization, a mobile product, Mixed Reality interaction and physical production.
Building all of it within the hackathon was unrealistic.
We therefore prioritized the part that could prove the emotional core of the idea: putting the character in the user's space and making it genuinely fun to interact with.
PRODUCT VISION
Facial AI
Mobile App
Account system
Mixed Reality
Hand interaction
Animations
Physical production
Bef
>>>>>>>>>>
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HACKATHON PRIORITY
NOT IMPLEMENTED
UI CONCEPT
CONCEPT
WORKING DEMO ✓
WORKING DEMO ✓
WORKING DEMO ✓
FUTURE MODEL
EXPERIENCE DESIGN
The technology had to disappear behind the joke.
The experience needed to be understandable within seconds. Instead of building an interface full of controls, we prioritized direct hand interaction in Mixed Reality.
If the user wanted to move the character, they grabbed it. If they wanted to throw it, they threw it. The interaction itself became part of the humor.
HAND INTERACTION
GRAB
throw
drop
push
press
TRIGGER ANIMATIONS
UX / MOBILE CONCEPT
Designing the ecosystem around the XR moment.
Alongside the immersive experience, I designed the mobile interface and the main states needed to explain how the wider product could work.
The interface covered onboarding, registration, facial capture, generation, profile and effects.
It remained a UI and wireframe concept during the hackathon rather than a functional mobile application.
BRANDING & VISUAL LANGUAGE
A cultural icon without treating culture like a museum.
The visual identity needed to preserve the recognizability and irreverence of the caganer while making the product feel contemporary and digital.
I developed the branding, interface language and presentation materials around a playful product personality rather than a technological aesthetic.
COLLABORATIVE BUILD
Three disciplines. One extremely short deadline.
The project depended on tight collaboration between product thinking, XR development, 3D and experimental AI research.
My role focused on concept development, market and UX research, experience design, branding, mobile UI and storytelling, while continuously adapting the product to what could realistically be demonstrated.
PABLO GUIJARRO Gil
Product Concept
UX Research
UX/UI
Branding
Concept Art
Storytelling
FELIX VASQUEZ BRITO
XR Development
Unity
3D Prototype
MAXIMILIAN NUSSBAUMER
AI Research
Facial Replacement Exploration
GitHub / Technical Research
WHAT BROKE
The prototype misbehaved. A lot.
01 — FACIAL REPLACEMENT
The AI pipeline became too complex for the remaining hackathon time.
RESULT
Removed from the working demo.
02 — MOVEMENT
Characters initially moved much faster than intended.
RESULT
Interaction parameters required adjustment
03 — AUDIO
Some sounds rendered at an unintended higher pitch.
RESULT
Audio behavior required iteration.
04 — PHYSICS
Characters could fall outside the playable area.
RESULT
The demo sometimes needed to be restarted.
THE WORKING PROTOTYPE
What actually worked.
By the end of the hackathon, the core Mixed Reality interaction was playable on Meta Quest.
Users could see the character inside their environment and manipulate it directly with their hands.
The prototype did not prove every layer of the product vision. It proved the interaction that made the concept worth continuing.
HACKATHONS AREN'T ABOUT BUILDING EVERYTHING.
THEY'RE ABOUT PROVING THE RIGHT THING.
TESTING IN THE ROOM
The real test was whether people wanted to touch it.
The demo was tested during the event by participants, mentors and members of the jury.
More than twenty people interacted with the prototype.
Feedback repeatedly highlighted the originality and humor of the idea, as well as the potential to add another layer of value to the souvenir experience.
20+
PEOPLE TESTED THE DEMO
DURING THE EVENT
PHYGITAL MODEL
The virtual experience was never meant to replace the object.
A purely virtual caganer would have removed part of what makes a souvenir meaningful: its physical, collectible nature.
The broader concept therefore connected the digital character with the possibility of producing a personalized physical figure.
Mixed Reality extends the souvenir. It does not replace it.
PRESENTING THE IDEA
A prototype also needs to explain why it matters.
The working demo was supported by a product narrative, trailer and pitch designed to make the wider vision understandable beyond the functionality we had time to build.
The final presentation combined approximately ten minutes of product storytelling with a short live demo.
RESULTS
A working interaction inside a larger product vision.
Over three and a half months, the collaboration expanded from individual pieces into a broader system covering segmented landing pages, campaign content, audiovisual production, AI-generated characters and educational material.
The result was a more flexible visual foundation and a repeatable workflow for producing content across different audiences and channels.
20+
demo testers
01
WORKING XR
EXPERIENCE & video
01
PUBLIC DEVPOST
SUBMISSION
THREE DECISIONS THAT SHAPED THE EXPERIENCE
1 — PERSONALIZE THE PERSON, NOT ONLY THE OBJECT
We made the user's identity central to the concept because souvenirs become more meaningful when they represent a personal memory or story.
02 — HANDS BEFORE CONTROLLERS
We prioritized hand interaction because touching, moving and throwing the character needed to feel immediate and playful.
03 — DIGITAL + PHYSICAL
We connected the virtual character to a potential physical collectible because the digital layer should extend the souvenir, not remove what makes it a souvenir.
WHAT I LEARNED
What I took from it
Caganer XR taught me that a hackathon is not won by adding more technology.
A strong prototype needs an idea people understand quickly, an emotion they can feel immediately and a scope that the team can actually prove.
The hardest decision was not what to build. It was what to leave out.
WHAT I WOULD CHANGE TODAY
If I built it again
I would validate the core journey with users even earlier. I would simplify the capture and personalization flow. And I would separate three layers from the beginning:
MVP
What proves the core value.
demo
What needs to work during presentation.
vision
What belongs to the future product.
DOES YOUR PHYSICAL PRODUCT HAVE A STORY THAT ENDS AT THE MOMENT OF PURCHASE?
Let's explore how interaction, XR or digital identity could extend that experience.
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STATUS: PROJECT READY
