Out of thousands of design universities, Aalto University in Finland ranks at #9 and I had the honour to design their standout virtual tour experience which won the European Design Award Silver

The final experience brought together:

• 44 spherical 360° panoramas
• 3 spherical 360° videos
• Interactive hotspots supporting text, links, photos, and videos
• A minimap system for orientation
• Thematic guided tours through the wider campus
• Audio, motion, and visual storytelling

Visitors could explore freely or follow curated routes through specific locations and themes. That gave the experience enough structure for people who wanted guidance, while leaving room for the curiosity that makes a campus visit memorable.

Designed for every screen

Fast-forward several months: after trips to Finland under tight travel restrictions, many UX/UI iterations, and repeated user tests, the tour was ready to welcome audiences from around the world.

People could experience it through desktop devices, mobile devices, or VR headsets, including Oculus Quest. Each platform introduced its own design questions.

On mobile, the interface had to remain readable and easy to navigate. On desktop, the experience needed to balance exploration with orientation. In VR, interactions had to feel natural without creating visual overload, navigation fatigue, or spatial confusion.

I paid close attention to the moments where people might lose their sense of direction, the amount of information they could absorb at once, and how the interface could support immersion without getting in the way.

The result feels less like browsing a website and more like stepping into a living campus.

Extending Aalto’s visual identity

Aalto already had a distinctive and respected visual identity. My job was not to replace it with a new visual language, but to extend it into a new kind of environment.

The interface was designed to respect Aalto’s existing brand system while remaining lightweight, modern, and immersive. The experience needed to feel engaging without becoming louder than the university itself.

That balance shaped the design decisions throughout the project. The platform had to attract future students and professionals, but it also had to remain credible, clear, and recognisably Aalto.

Built to grow with the university

The platform architecture was designed with long-term scalability in mind. The technical structure allowed future updates, additional languages, and expanded content without requiring the whole experience to be rebuilt from scratch.

Detailed custom Google Analytics event tracking was also implemented to help the team understand how visitors interacted with the experience across devices and environments.

A personal milestone

Going back 15 years, I could not have imagined designing a virtual campus experience for a prestigious university in Finland. At the time, I had just been rejected from a local art and design school in Estonia.

Four years later, I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences. I never ended up using that degree. Instead, I worked in sales and marketing before returning to my passion for design.

In 2016, I founded Bitfiner and learned everything the hard way, through trial and error, persistence, and a lot of self-teaching. Today, the studio is Xfiner, and I get to work with an amazing team and partners on projects in more than 20 countries.

Along the way, we have received around 10 significant recognitions and design awards. Still, getting to design Aalto University’s virtual campus experience remains one of the highlights of my career.

Not because I came from an Arts & Design degree. I did not. It matters to me because it is proof that being a hard learner and a creative thinker can open doors that once seemed completely out of reach.

Recognition

The project received international recognition, including the European Design Award Silver, Kuldmuna Gold, and recognition through ADC Europe listings.

The awards were meaningful, but the work itself matters more to me. The real outcome was creating a way for people to discover Aalto’s campus, atmosphere, and identity before they had the chance to visit in person.

Thank you to the team

I want to thank the team at Xfiner, with whom I had the pleasure of designing this experience, as well as the people at TUUR and Aalto University who helped bring it to life.

Projects like this are never created by one person. They depend on trust, a strong working relationship, and a shared willingness to keep improving the details until the whole experience feels right.

The outcome

The final Virtual Campus Experience gives prospective students, exchange students, faculty, and professionals a way to explore Aalto University from almost anywhere in the world. It brings together architecture, nature, stories, media, and interaction in one accessible digital environment.

We did not try to replace the physical campus. We created another way for people to discover it, understand it, and begin imagining themselves there.

Dedication, passion, and perseverance matter. I hope this story inspires designers and soon-to-be designers who can relate to an unconventional path.

I hope you enjoy discovering Aalto University’s campus in a way it has never been seen before. And keep thinking boldly.