AR for Good Project

Background & Goal

LeARn-2-Play was developed through a partnership with one of the most reputable children's hospital in Boston, a popular children's brand and PTC. There are early indications that augmented reality may help with learning, social interactions, and pretend play. As a part of this initiative, the team set out to demonstrate how AR can be used to teach fundamental abstract concepts such as “in" (placing an object inside a container). The goal of this project was to leverage the convergence of the physical and digital worlds and to develop an augmented reality tablet application that physicians can use during sessions with young children who have mild to severe autism and ultimately help improve these children's lives.

My Role

I was brought on at phase 2 of the project. As the only UI/UX Designer on the team, I was tasked with improving the UI of the application as well as improving the overall experience.

Design Process

This was a very collaborative project. The team had bi-weekly meetings with the physicians to get regular feedback from them. They even showed us videos of them using the app in progress with their young patients. We then took that feedback and made changes to the app accordingly. I scheduled weekly one-on-one meetings with developers to implement the UI.

For this UI, my objectives were to:

use bright colors
have a more modern looking UI
space out elements
strategically place elements for ease of use
add some visual interest

Here are some BEFORE and AFTER examples:

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

I presented to the team several different options for the success/fail icons that appear in the "Prompts Used" panel. After some discussions with the physicians, the consensus was to go with the plus/minus approach.

I introduced some fun visual interest to the UI like adding a pattern background to modal windows, and some light animation that would appeal to children.

Project Evolution

Competency Highlights

I demonstrated the ability to join a project and a team that was already in the works. I was able to improve the UI and UX based on the requirements from stakeholders and end users.

What I learned

I learned that testing the product early and often as well as getting regular feedback from users makes the process more efficient and run more smoothly. Having one-on-one sessions with developers is very beneficial; I was able to better understand some of the technical constraints and how to work around them. Having a close working relationship allows for a mutual-respect and understanding of each others work.