Problem & Goal

It is difficult for a global design team to collaborate on designs in real-time. It is also challenging for designers to create AR applications for environments where it’s hard to access or imagine. It goes without saying what a challenge a global design team would encounter when designing for AR applications.

To facilitate such a situation, we chose to create a VR application for the global AR design team to increase productivity.

Why VR?

In the VR environment, the team would be able to:

• Visualize and experience user environments in first-person point-of-view

• Collaborate seamlessly in real-time

• Prototype quickly by the help of tools provided by the system

Physical Prototype

Reflections

• Critically think about why VR/AR and the impact of the design.

• Designing for a specific scenario helps streamline the ideas.

• Focusing on story-telling for the presentation is critical for conveying the idea and showing the impact to the audience.

Problem & Goal

Based on the team’s discussion regarding our personal experiences, we started thinking about inconveniences that arise while backpacking, camping, and hiking. Specifically, we discussed the problems that arise while on long hikes away from park rangers or close proximity to help.

After discussing some ideas about having trouble finding the trail or wishing we had access to educational or safety-related information along the path, we decided to focus on the issue of first aid situations in places where people cannot find immediate help.

Why AR?

• Hikers can not only immerse in the natural environment, but also acquire the additional information

• Hikers can easily explore the trails and access necessary instruction for reacting the emergency situation

Physical Prototype

Digital Prototype

Reflections

With more Time

• Make it more realistic and easier to understand

• Make more interactions.

Takeaway

• Think more when doing the physical prototype, so that there would be need to shift the concept and start over again.

• Learned how to integrate real environment to the physical prototype and how to simulate that experience.

• When having the time limit, make assumptions and simulate the scenario as possible as we can.

Problem & Goal

According to the United States Fire Administration (USFA), a quarter of fire victims are children. We believe children lack the knowledge and experience to appropriately handle fire emergency situations.

Therefore, we decided to provide an immersive emergency training experience catered to elementary school children about how to respond to fire emergencies at school.

Why VR?

• Accurately depict the school environment and fire scenarios so that students could reasonably believe that they are engaging in a simulated exercise

• Design the interactions to make use of whole body movements as we believe there is a strong correlation between muscle memory and emergency response

• Simulate all potential scenarios based on children’s decisions so that they can learn the effects of their choice

Physical Prototype

Digital Prototype

Refelections

With more time

• Make more interactions.

• Try to use A-frame to create more effective prototypes.

Takeaway

• Physical prototype was fast and greatly helped us to review the design and iterate.

• Explore the alternative tools, try them out and find the most efficient or effective one.