Study ARbroad
UX Research - UX Design - Artificial Reality
A mobile app that uses augmented reality to help students studying abroad safely explore and learn about their new surroundings.
Roles
Researcher
Designer
Tools
Adobe CC
Figma
Duration
5 weeks
Discover, Explore, and Embrace the Area, Language, and Culture. Alleviate concerns about language acquisition, navigation, safety, and local cuisine as users immerse themselves in new surroundings, making the study abroad journey an enriching experience of cultural immersion and education.
Target User Group
American study abroad students studying in a foreign country.
The Problem
Study-abroad students, especially those staying for extended periods, face challenges in safely exploring and navigating a foreign environment. They often struggle with language barriers, unfamiliarity with the area, safety concerns, and the desire to immerse themselves in the local culture without standing out as tourists.
The Goal
The goal of the project is to create an augmented reality (AR) solution that enhances the study abroad experience by providing tools that help students safely explore, learn, and immerse themselves in their new surroundings. This solution aims to address concerns related to safety, navigation, and cultural learning.
The Approach
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Research: Conducted interviews with study abroad students to understand their concerns and needs, focusing on safety, navigation, and cultural immersion.
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Design and Ideation: Developed AR-based features such as navigation assistance, cultural and language learning tools, and safety alerts. The design was influenced by video game UI concepts and further refined through prototyping and concept testing.
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Prototyping: Visualized the AR experience through LEGO city models and Google Maps overlays to ensure features were practical and not overwhelming.
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Testing and Refinement: Conducted concept testing to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the AR features, leading to iterative improvements in the design.
Research and Ideation
A set of priorities was built into consideration to address the final design. These priorities were split into two different groups, one being dedicated to problems that may occur when traveling and temporarily living in an unfamiliar environment, and the other being related to the user groups that were found to best benefit from a solution to the problems listed out in the prior group.
How did this influence the design?
From the analysis of priorities, it was concluded that designing a new
experience for study abroad students would best fit the issues identified and laid out. This decision was due to the relatively long time frame study abroad students tend to spend in one location compared to tourists or other groups.
Since they are spending more time in a new city or county compared to other travelers, they must gain a good understanding and grasp of their environment and feel empowered to explore their new surroundings to have an enriching study abroad experience.
Interviews were conducted with people who have studied abroad before or are going to shortly. These interviews were carried out to help gain a better understanding of the experience of studying abroad as a student.
CONCERN
Concerns with safety and living in a different country
CONFUSION
Confusion with navigating the city and public transit
ADAPTING
Studying abroad as an experience to challenge and improve themselves
Video Game UI
Taking a look at first-person video game screens and features allowed me to identify features of the AR UI that would assist in wayfinding and exploring.
The first-person gaming view translated well to the Heads Up AR view. Additions such as a navigational pathway, wayfinding beacon markers, a minimap, and informational pop-ups, were made. These features were later tested for feasibility.
Ideation Sketches
This is a sketch depicting the idea that the features would fade over time, forcing the user to learn about the space around them. Over time this would allow the user to become more immersed in the physical space.
This shows a refined visualization of how the visual UI elements of our design would appear on the user’s AR glasses. These features are intended to have a low level of visual stimulation in order to not be too distracting or overwhelming for the user.
Here, the users would be able to create travel itineraries and explore more things around the city or area they are staying in. They can learn about stores and restaurants as well as go on tours!
This sketch was intended to show the view of someone walking home at night. The wayfinding markers point the user in the right direction, steering them away from a poorly lit river. The minimap also indicates the route so the user knows generally where they are. Offering a system of both safety and navigation provides a sense of safety to the user(s).
Google Maps Overlay
The goal of this plexiglass prototyping exercise was to visualize what the users would be able to see from the design at any given point in time.
This is a street view, where displayed is a beacon that directs the user to a monument in Paris. There are also shopping and food icons conveying that those corresponding buildings are for shopping and food respectively.
Here is a ‘danger zone’ being depicted over a construction zone.
Here is a street view of a store highlighting a sign that could be translated. This shows a translation of the sign above showing key vocab words.
Here is when the ‘food’ mode is activated and various food places in the area are highlighted. The user can interact with said food place icons and learn more information.
Here is where explore mode is activated and the user can learn more historical and cultural information about the monument or significant area.
Concept Testing
It was determined appropriate to conduct concept testing for the AR study abroad solution. Participants from the user group helped with the testing on the basis that they have or would study abroad.
Goals:
- Show helpful is Study ARbroad for the user group.
- To see whether the usefulness of the AR solution is understood.
- To test and see if the proposed AR solution is visually feasible and not too overwhelming.
- Potentially discover new functionalities that could be implemented into the design and enhance the user experience.
Takeaways:
From the concept testing, it was concluded that:
- The AR screen UI was too overwhelming and busy with multiple functionalities.
- Pathways and Beacon features enhanced the day-to-day navigation and helped the users understand the area better.
- The AR screen’s minimap was not fully intuitive and rather overly distracting, leading them to be unable to follow through smoothly.
Final Design
Feature List:
SAFETY: Visual warnings that help keep users out of dangerous areas.
NAVIGATION: Visual and auditory directions, mini-map, color-coded beacons.
EXPLORATION: Modes to help users explore food, sights, and activities, overlays to learn more about restaurants and landmarks.
LEARNING: Overlays and word-to-word transition to learn unfamiliar words and phrases.
Beacon
Explore Mode
Food Explore
Learning Translation
Danger Zone
