TravelAR - An Immersive Adventure
Traveling can be really fun especially when we get to visit our dream destinations. However, certain circumstances might prevent even the most active travelers from seeing the wonders of the world.
To address this, me and my team pitched TravelAR to the Accenture XR practice. Our goal for this project was to explore how we could allow people to effortlessly transport and fully immerse themselves into any destination of their choosing from the comfort of their own home while feeling like they are physically present in those places. As the lead XR designer, I created all visual elements, high fidelity prototype, and also introduced the idea of gamification with the purpose of enhancing user engagement.
Overview
Role
XR Product Designer, Illustrator
Tools
Figma, Photoshop, After Effects
Timeline
June 2023 - July 2023
Travel Companion
Toto is the official tour guide of TravelAR. Through interviews, we found that users prefer having a travel companion or tour guide accompany them on their adventures for a more delightful experience.
Destination Cards
I designed a few travel cards to represent cities by using cultural and environmental symbols. Displaying visual cards that symbolize each place gives users a sense of the setting they will be visiting.
Customize Experience
Users can travel with friends, view memories, and personalize avatars.
3D Map Interaction
Users can interact with a partial 3d map of their selected destination using hand gestures or switch to VR by pointing at and selecting a specific site.
Travel with Toto
Similar to an in-person tour guide, Toto offers guidance as users explore a city, allowing them to learn about attractions and engage with the culture.
Gamification
Including gamification helps with user retention and makes the experience more engaging. Since many people like to do more than just sightseeing while traveling physically, we wanted to introduce game mechanics for additional exploration within a virtual setting and increase user interest. Users can collect cultural objects, access a journal, view place information, hang out with friends, and capture memories.
Video Prototype
I produced a final video to showcase our initial prototype for TravelAR. This video was also used for demo purposes while responding to various XR request for proposals and presenting in front of potential client groups.
Phone Prototype
Since many users might not have access to a headset device, it was important to design a phone version as well. I made this initial phone prototype using Bezi.
Reflection
Designing UX for XR is definitely a challenging experience as it is difficult to understand the design concepts due to the emerging nature of this technology. To effectively develop our spatial product, my team conducted competitive analysis and followed various user guidelines tailored for those accessing the product via a headset device.
The composition and placement of certain UI elements and how the user interacts with them is really important when designing such applications. I paid close attention to the spatial surroundings and how to create depth for UI elements without rendering them flat, considering they are augmented onto the physical space.
Although TravelAR was just a concept to showcase and pitch our XR team’s capabilities, our future plan was to bring it to life by using software such as Unity and making it functional. However, since there is not much research available on UX for XR as compared to traditional UX, it was a challenge in understanding certain accessibility guidelines and user interactions, especially with elements like the travel companion, Toto. If I had more time, I would conduct further research and also prototype and test different variations to address these concerns.