The archive · Design & Visual · Product decision · 2023–2025
Harry Potter: Visions of Magic remixes film locations into contemporary immersive art
An interactive journey through immersive, artistic environments inspired by Potter film locations — remixing the iconic instead of rebuilding it.
Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment · NEON
What it had to solve
Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and NEON wanted an experience format within the Harry Potter franchise that felt elevated, evocative and unexpected — one that celebrated the iconic but remixed it into something bold, artistic and contemporary, rather than another faithful recreation of the sets.
How it works
Franchise experiences usually answer a beloved IP by recreating it — the same sets, the same props, the same pilgrimage. Harry Potter: Visions of Magic made the opposite bet: an interactive journey through a series of immersive and artistic environments inspired by enigmatic places from the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films, delivered in partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment and NEON.
The creative decision was to treat the franchise's iconic locations as material for contemporary art rather than as sets to reproduce. Environments fans remember from the films were remixed into something bold, artistic and unexpected — an elevated, evocative experience format that celebrates the iconic without copying it.
Built as an interactive journey through a series of environments, the experience leans on atmosphere and art direction instead of rides or exact recreations. That is what lets it read as a new format within the franchise rather than another visit to a place fans have already seen, and it is the idea D&AD's archive records under spatial design.
Why it lands
- It swaps fidelity for interpretation: fans already own the authentic memory, so the experience offers a fresh artistic reading instead of a second-rate copy.
- Treating fan-favorite places as contemporary art changes the audience from visitor to interpreter, which is what makes the experience feel elevated and unexpected.
- The partnership pairs franchise stewardship from Warner Bros. Discovery with NEON's experience production, so creative risk and brand control reinforce each other.
What it did
The format itself was the deliverable: an elevated, evocative and unexpected way to present a beloved franchise, in which atmosphere and art direction carry the experience rather than faithful set recreations. D&AD preserved the work in its awards archive under spatial design; the entry records no visitor figures.
What you can take
With beloved IP, interpretation can outbid reproduction: remixing iconic places into artistic, contemporary environments gives fans a new format instead of a lesser copy of what they know.
Since then
The work entered D&AD's awards archive as a spatial design entry, where it stands as an example of taking a beloved film property into contemporary art. Its durable move is interpretive: present fan-favorite places as immersive, artistic environments, let the audience feel the iconic through a new lens, and the franchise gains an experience format rather than a replica. The archive page records no visitor or revenue figures, so the case rests on the format itself.
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