WHAT AM I MAKING?
AR WAYFINDING TOOL FOR INDOOR SPACES.
Day 1 - A / The 5 WHYs:
1-WHY?
To test the impact of AR on wayfinding behaviours.
2-WHY?
In complex spaces, wayfinding challenges are common/universal, they cost people time and money.
3-WHY?
Current wayfinding practices (maps and signs) are still not enough and I think we need to look for better solutions.
4-WHY?
To increase accessibility (current language and placement of signs is inaccessible or limited) and inclusivity of all visitors.
5-WHY?
To enhance traffic, save visitors time and money and encourage them to engage more and have better revenue on the business involved.
Day 1 - B / My Mind Map:
Day 2 - A / Peer Suggestions:
SUGGESTIONS:
1- What form of positional beacon? Most GPS systems have a CPE of 10-20 meters.
2- Wireframes
3- Surveys where people need wayfinding
4- Think figuring out the functionality: How to input destiation /goal
5- Make a cardboard Hololens and have people imagine how and what they would like to augment in their surrounding.
6- Virtual building with wayfinding
7- Set VP attention points and map traffic.
8- Application for univerity or corporate campuses.
Day 2 - B / Prototype Ideation:
Day 2 - C / Prototype Creation:
Day 2 - C / CFC Media Lab Project Brief: Developing a Digital Media Prototype.
1- What is your research topic?
When placed in big malls, grocery stores, airports or museums, most visitors struggle to find their way and navigate those complex architectural spaces.
Coming from a background of User Interface and User Experience design, I would like to investigate Augmented Reality as a better wayfinding solution than what is currently used in those spaces such as printed maps, signs, interactive maps and study the impact of an augmented reality application on wayfinding and navigation behaviours.
2- Why is your research needed?
Taking museums as a focus, the complexity of the space could negatively affect the overall experience. digital advancement in the HMD realm and especially augmented reality headgear may offer a potential in taking the one-sided visit and confusing interior set up in a museum to an interactive and well directed experience, enhance traffic and navigation as well as increase the accessibility by using preferences related to the user’s tastes and profile.
This is important for a greater engagement with the POI within the space and create an enjoyable and educational experience and hopefully generate better business revenues. The research comes to test this hypothesis and help generate the best UI and UX elements needed for the final prototype.
3-Outline any goals you wish to achieve through prototyping (research), including any specific outcomes you want to achieve, or features and concepts you want to test.
I intend to eventually create an Augmented Reality wayfinding application for a museum on an HMD (Head Mounted Display) AR headset and put the following experience under the test:
1. The visitor searches a particular POI (i.e. piece of art, painting or room).
2. Wayfinding UI interactive elements such as arrows and signs will be laid on top of the physical world to direct the visitors to their destination.
3. Once arrived, the application recognizes the art piece and displays next to it animations, or more information about it in any language.
For prototyping purposes, I am intending to downsize the experience to one POI and use paper prototyping techniques to test the UX while “displaying” signs and arrows to direct the user from their current location to their final destination.
The goal is to observe the user’s interaction and find out what is the impact of those directions on their wayfinding behaviours to define where it succeeds and where it falls short. The other goal is to also test if those directions if they are enough, or confusing to figure out the best User Interface, and how to make the whole experience concise, clear and consistent.
4-Who needs to be involved in your research and who should you prototype with? (e.g audiences and or users, service deliverers, experts in the subject, senior leaders).
The target of my prototype / tool is everyone that faces struggles with wayfinding difficulties in complex indoor spaces be it airports, malls, train stations, and of course museums whose visitors are my main target users.
Since I have an open access to the AGO, I would like to take the gallery as my focus of observation and research the traffic and their wayfinding behavior. I would like to also do in depth interviews with selected museum visitors if I can.
For my paper-prototyping stage, I am will be using the help of my cohort and university for user testing and feedback.
While as for digital prototyping, I would like to ideally work with bunch of people starting with AGO professionals that are experts and familiar with spatial behavior of the gallery’s visitors and also do user testing with selected visitors and get their feedback.