2025
Cross-Cultural Research, UX Strategy, Experience Design, Creative Direction
Peder Elias experienced a sudden, organic fandom boom in South Korea—a viral "lightning in a bottle" moment that even surprised his label. The challenge was to decode the "why" behind this cross-cultural success and design a digital experience that would nurture this organic momentum into a lasting, scalable ecosystem.
ROLE
- Lead in project management, strategy and cross-cultural research
- Lead in art direction for
the world-building and experience design principles
- Hands-on design support in UI/UX and wireframe
CREDITS
Built with Andreas Stavrakis, Fedora Maranzana and Jamie Park, Vicram V. Completed in 3 weeks.
Uncovering an untapped
To uncover what drives South Korean fans, we conducted six in-depth interviews with listeners provided by Sony Music. Fans described Peder’s music as a source of happiness, healing, and calm:
“His music makes me happy.”
“I listen when I’m down.”
Yet, they also voiced a shared frustration: “We don’t have an official fan name or channel.”
This gap pointed to a deeper cultural tension—Korean fandoms thrive on official recognition and structured belonging, while Western fan relationships are built on individualism and authenticity.
We researched Korean fan ecosystems (Weverse, Daum Café, LYSN) and studied how community identity and legitimacy drive engagement. At the same time, we explored Nordic lifestyle values—emotional openness, balance, and simplicity—and discovered strong cultural parallels: both Korean and Scandinavian societies are emotionally expressive yet socially restrained, both seeking emotional refuge from collective pressure.
This led to a powerful framing:
Peder’s Nordic calm offers Korean fans a space to breathe—a mirror of what they long for in their own lives.
Our discovery process includes Market Research (Quantitative Data & Trend Report), Ethnographic & Field Studies (Local Visit and Interviews), and SMEs businesses' operational analysis
We realised that creating yet another digital pilot for individual sectors wouldn’t solve the deeper structural disconnect. What was needed wasn’t more innovation in isolation, but a way to see how people, businesses, and environments interact as part of a living whole.
I introduced Systems Thinking as the core methodology to move beyond siloed solutions and instead, explore the relationships, feedback loops, and patterns that shape the region’s behaviour. This approach guided how we framed insights and designed interventions.
Guiding our synthesis with Mental Models and Ecosystem Mapping to inform our strategy
Our response was Silicon Forest, a 10-year roadmap that reimagines the region as a self-sustaining, scalable ecosystem connecting people, businesses, and nature.
Instead of siloed, fast-paced digital fixes limited only to agriculture or tourism, it leverages existing local resources across all sectors at the right pace and time.
We use metaphorical storytelling to bring those insights and solutions to life in a more compelling manner.
This isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach; instead, it's customised to suit the specific needs of our local businesses, residents, and initiatives. Appointed Local Champions will be essential in actualising this toolkit. As trusted local members, they will serve as guides, facilitators, and problem-solvers, ensuring everyone receives the support they need on their digital journey.
The Silicon Forest Transformation Model is currently being applied for government funding and will commence next year with Tillvaxtverket for implementation and scaling.
- The region’s food industry is a unique strength. How might we leverage that within this roadmap?
- How can we simplify the model to ensure ease of implementation across all three horizons?
- With clearer direction and aligned resources, can we now enable sector-specific innovation more effectively?