In a recent 2 day Creative Hack at UAL, we tackled the issue of urban noise pollution in London, not just as a nuisance, but as a genuine accessibility barrier. While the "tube screech" is annoying for the average commuter, for individuals with hyperacusis, misophonia, or neurodivergence, it is debilitating. We a multi-creative team of 7 developed Shor (/ʃɔː/), a service intervention that maps high-decibel zones and offers adaptive audio mediation, repositioning sound as a controllable layer of the urban experience.

The Pitch Paradox
The real challenge, however, wasn't just the UI, it was the storytelling. How do you make a room full of people care about a problem they can’t see? We had five minutes to pitch a solution for a minority demographic to a generalist jury. This constraint forced us to move away from dry data and lean into visceral storytelling. I realised it the hard way that to sell the solution, we first had to simulate the anxiety of the problem, using the pitch itself to recreate the sensory overload that our users feel daily.

Designing the Abstract
This experience solidified a core belief: abstract concepts are the hardest to design for, but they hold the most potential for creative "play." Because sound is invisible, we had the freedom to use metaphors, visualisations, and theatrics that tangible product pitches often lack. Addressing a niche need didn’t limit our presentation; it liberated it. It proved that when you solve for the edges of the user spectrum-the sensitive, the anxious, the neurodivergent, you don't just create a more inclusive city; you tell a more compelling story.