facts and fiction, a creative agency specialising in creating experiential spaces, has seen a significant shift in visitor engagement over its three decades of experience in exhibition design.
Although visitors are present, engagement is becoming ever more fragile, posing a significant challenge to even the most thoughtfully designed spaces, says the agency.
At museums, expos, and cultural attractions across the world, visitors are staying for shorter periods, interacting with content less, and experiencing fewer moments of emotional connection.
facts and fiction has observed this change across projects of all scales. Traditional mediation tools such as audio guides, screens, and linear narratives are increasingly viewed as functional add-ons rather than a means to create connection.
At Expo 2025 Osaka, the agency addressed this enduring trend with a fundamentally different approach: the Circulars.
These friendly companions, inspired by Japanese kawaii culture, encouraged visitors to form a relationship with the system, rather than simply interact with it.
'Alive, intuitive, and unobtrusive'
At the entrance to the German Pavilion, each visitor was given their own Circular, which explained content, asked questions, and sometimes initiated conversations using straightforward, accessible language.
With these companions, mediation became personal, continuous, and adaptive. Whether narrative or interactive, they discreetly guided visitors through the exhibition with technology that intentionally receded into the background, allowing character and emotion to take centre stage.
This represented a significant change in approach:
- Content is now shared with visitors instead of simply delivered to them.
- Mediation evolves into a dialogue rather than a monologue.
- The exhibition develops a voice that encourages visitors to engage and spend time with it.
"With the Circulars, content is no longer delivered – it’s shared," says Dietmar Jähn, managing partner at facts and fiction.
"Visitors explore, discover, and connect naturally, enjoying a guide that feels alive, intuitive, and unobtrusive."
Measurable impact
While offering a novel experience for visitors, the Circulars were intentionally built on familiar, reliable technology.
They featured multiple sensory responses, offering haptic feedback through a soft shell and gentle vibrations, auditory engagement via spoken content and sound cues, and visual signals using coloured lights to communicate interaction and mood.
Through this combination, the Circulars evoked a sense of presence that seemed natural rather than mechanical. The emphasis stayed on the user experience rather than the device itself.
Over the course of Expo 2025 Osaka, the Circulars reached over three million visitors. 50% of the pavilion's visitors became “intensive explorers,” with a dwell time of over half an hour, far exceeding typical world expo averages.
The Circulars also facilitated repeated, high-frequency interactions, with 36,476 encounters in one single week. This demonstrated how mediation can become an ongoing presence, rather than a one-off touchpoint.
The pavilion’s Instagram following tripled organically. Additionally, in an unusual outcome for an exhibition mediation system, the Circulars inspired visitors to create unsolicited fan art and user-generated content, which was shared on Instagram and TikTok.
These findings indicate that decreasing engagement is avoidable. Designing mediation as a relationship rather than a function prompts visitors to invest more time, attention, and advocacy.
Embodying the circular economy
The Circulars played a central role in the German Pavilion’s overall concept, Wa! Germany!, which served as a physical embodiment of the circular economy.
The pavilion’s landscape and building connected through modular, demountable architecture, as well as locally sourced, recyclable materials such as hemp, rammed earth, and mycelium. Plants were borrowed for the duration of the Expo and then returned to local nurseries.
Inside, visitors explored the immersive spaces Circular Living, Circular Economy, and Circular Me, which discussed systemic change, innovation, and personal responsibility. Here, the Circulars offered a connection between space, content, and visitors.
At the journey's end, the companions returned to the entrance, symbolising a world without waste or final endpoints. After the Expo's close, their impact will continue at schools, where they will be used as educational and programming kits.
Adaptable approach
Although the Circulars at Expo 2025 Osaka had a distinctive, round, character-driven form, the concept itself is deliberately versatile. As the mediation system is not tied to a specific object or aesthetic, it can take any form to suit different stories, spaces, and institutions.
This adaptability highlights the central concept driving the project: that mediation is not defined by hardware, but by the relationship it creates.
By combining character design with tested technology and extensive experience, facts and fiction demonstrate how mediation can become intuitive, subtle, and emotionally resonant, helping attractions overcome declining engagement metrics and forge meaningful, lasting connections.
facts and fiction contributed to the design of the national pavilions for Germany, Austria, and the European Union (EU) at Expo 2025 Osaka, which closed on 13 October after a six-month run.
The agency won several awards for its work on the German and Austrian pavilions.
