YFD X TIETO, FLOW FESTIVAL, INKLUSIIV
NEW INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FLOW FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE!
Inclusive Festival Experience Design Challenge
The Starting Point
How can Flow Festival become even more inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of festivalgoers?
Organised in collaboration with Tieto, Flow Festival and Inklusiiv, the design challenge set out to identify the invisible barriers that can affect the festival experience and develop innovative solutions to address them through design.
INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FLOW FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE
INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FLOW FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE
What Did We Do?
Nearly 60 young designers from across Finland applied to the design challenge. YFD selected three designers from the applicants to develop their own solutions to promote inclusivity at Flow Festival.
The designers explored the festival experience from different perspectives and presented practical solutions to address the diverse needs of festivalgoers.
From left: Riina Virtanen, Marketing & Communications Lead, Tieto Tech Consulting Finland; Elisa Luoto, Co-founder of YFD; Heidi Maria Huovinen, Co-founder of YFD; Vilja Grotenfelt, Sales and Marketing Director.
Three Perspectives on Inclusivity
Viola Rautaheimo – Winner
The solution makes the soundscape of Flow Festival and the volume levels in different areas easy to understand. This allows festivalgoers to anticipate sound levels and choose an environment that suits their needs.
Katariina Valentin – Honourable Mention
The solution makes it easier to access assistance and identify individual needs, while making accessibility a natural part of the festival experience.
Vilma Karisto – Third Place
This spatial design solution provides festivalgoers with a dedicated space to unwind and offers a new perspective on how diverse needs can be accommodated in an event environment.
Design Challenge Participants: Vilma Karisto (3rd place), on the left; Viola Rautaheimo (1st place), in the centre; and Katariina Valentin (2nd place), on the right.
The Outcome
The winner of the design challenge, Viola Rautaheimo, was announced at Flow Festival’s Flow Talks event on 15 August 2026.
The challenge demonstrated how young designers’ perspectives can help identify user experience needs and barriers that may not be immediately apparent to an organisation.
Partners: Tieto Tech Consulting, Flow Festival & Inklusiiv Applications received: Nearly 60 designers Selected designers: 3 Winner: Viola Rautaheimo
What Did the Collaboration Bring?
The design challenge gave Tieto, Flow Festival and Inklusiiv fresh perspectives on how to create a more inclusive festival experience, along with three concrete design solutions to explore further.
At the same time, the young designers had the opportunity to work on a real business challenge alongside well-known organisations, receive feedback from a multidisciplinary group of experts, and build new, career-enhancing networks.
INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FLOW FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE
INCLUSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR THE FLOW FESTIVAL OF THE FUTURE
“I was genuinely surprised and excited to hear that I had been selected to take part in the design challenge. We were given a great deal of freedom to develop our solutions, which I thought worked really well given the broad scope of inclusivity. I particularly valued the discussions with Heidi and Elisa from YFD, as well as with representatives from the participating organisations. Receiving constructive feedback from professionals gave me confidence that I was heading in the right direction.
Taking part in the challenge was already an amazing opportunity in itself. Winning means a great deal to me, and I believe it will support me as I begin my career. A huge thank you to YFD, Tieto, Flow and Inklusiiv for this experience!”
— Viola Rautaheimo,
Master’s Programme in Information Networks, Aalto University Winner of the design challenge