AdventAR

Synopsis

AdventAR Lost is an augmented reality app that displays an interactive avatar to accompany users to help them find their parents or companions. This augmented map is particularly designed for for children who lack proficiency in reading maps, or who need a friend to guide and entertain them, as children can choose their favorite characters as guides and avatars within the app.

Tools

Figma, Mixamo, Unity After Effects

Current Problem

When children get lost, they tend to panic immediately, to freeze up, and to experience fear and intimidation about asking adults for help. Some children have hard time reading maps.

Initial Goals

Sketch

Initial Questions

I began by asking questions I felt were necessary to understand who I’m designing fro and how I will approach the solution. Psychology research helped me determine design for children.

Who are the users I am designing for?
What is the user’s everyday life like?
Why would users want to use this product?
How do children behave when they get lost?
How do stuffed animals, playful characters and games affect frightened or intimidated children? How can children and parents maintain a good relationship? At what age can children use smartphones? What are some popular games that children play? What colors do children find soothing?

Key Words

Target Users

Above Age 3

According psychology studies, it would be best to start implementing smartphones or tablets into your child’s life at the age of 2 or 3. The important thing here is to be disciplined and always limit the time spent on playing with these devices.

Colors

When children get lost, they tend to panic immediately, to freeze up, and to experience fear and intimidation about asking adults for help.

I tried to find colors that help children to relax, make thier jouneys more adventurous. I chose purple, which signifies both energy and relaxation.

User Interviews

“I was expecting more use from the character such as making them to do fun things, or do more interactive activities with the character.”

“Character was detracting my collective attention. The character is too cute that I started to less focus on my surroundings in the real world.”

Redefining Goals

It wasn’t until getting feedback from my peers when I realized that I was to focused on how to make the app entertaining so that it may distract users to focus on the surroundings. So, I decided to focus more on educational part.

Competitive Analysis

Concept

Structure and User Flows

Information Architecture

2D Map Flow

3D Models

Maxiamo

I uploaded a 3d model of Tom to Maxiamo that automatically animate a character using machine learning methods.

Unity

After obtaining animating 3D models from Maxiamo, I imported the filed to Unity to loop the animation, and attach the AR character to main camera.