ARt Glasses

Our primary audience consists of people who attend museums regularly - “Museum Connoisseur.” They love attending exhibits at the gallery and have limited exposure to AR technology. They are interested in experiencing art in a new, more immersive way as long as it supports exhibits and does not overwhelm them. They do not want a product with a large learning curve.

Our secondary audience “The Tech Enthusiast” will attend an exhibition with the sole purpose of trying new technologies. Museums are a social experience for this audience; they are not likely to attend an exhibit alone. While they have more confidence in their ability to quickly pick up new technology, they do not want to appear silly.

To help us define the problem, we created a Jobs to be Done framework.

We held workshops throughout the process to boost our understanding. The workshops focused on helping us understand commonly used gestures, prioritizing our workflow, testing our information architecture and parts of our interface design. Through insights we gained during these sessions, we were able to develop a more thoughtful design.

Gestures to be used during the experience are designed to be simple and based on intuitive movements. We referenced Hololens to understand current best practices. By restricting the number of gestures that need to be learned to operate ARt Glasses, we created a more immediate experience, limiting pain points for the user.

Through a competitor analysis of current AR practices, we discovered that the visual language used for AR marketing is much showier then the reality. The trope of AR with a highly futuristic aesthetic does not reflect the actual experience of using AR technology.

By keeping our visual language simple - more in line with the reality of many AR experiences - we increased usability and accessibility.

Simple and intuitive, the interface design is meant to follow common patterns for interaction. We limited the amount of clutter in the view  so as to not interfere with the art.

We created the information architecture for what the user would see from the start of the experience through several interactions. We focused on limiting a heavy learning curve while still creating a full experience for our audience who have a range of technical abilities.

Built to reduce pain points caused by waiting in line, our check-in and out logistics ensure the devices are able to stay safe while creating a straight forward process for the user.

Discovered based on research and user wants, we sorted our features using a priority matrix to help us determine what to include.

We filmed, animated, and produced a consumer-facing commercial for our experience. We strove to not only demonstrate some of the appealing interface and interaction design but also capture the immersive feeling that would draw the user to try ARt Glasses.

final thoughts

When we set out to design an AR experience for a museum, we were entering into a field of which we had very little knowledge. By trusting in our design process and following our research, we created a solution that captures many of our goals. Through workshops, critiques, and discussions, we were able to gain the insights we need to push our project forward. This was a highly collaborative process and we learned so much by working through this complex problem with each other.

As always, we strove to create an experience that put the user at the forefront. Designed with empathy and inclusivity in mind, our AR project would not only enhance the museum experience but create a new way to engage with art.

Next steps

I would create some of the interfaces in AR software to be able to test their usability in a real AR viewport. By validating our interfaces, we could move forward towards production.