UX/UI Design | Inclusion | Hackathon
Created an augmented reality prototype to preserve a community elder's stories, earning 3rd place out of 8 teams at a hackathon with 50+ participants.
Overview
This project was completed as part of a 2-day hackathon sponsored by Revere XR for which the goal was to craft a prototype showcasing immersive technology (augmented reality (AR), artificial intelligence, or extended reality), and has the potential to preserve the history of Seattle’s Central District (one of the primary hubs of Seattle’s Black community) that’s rapidly changing due to urban development. Using the stories of a Central District community elder, our team created a mobile prototype of an AR experience called RedLinesAR, and received 3rd place prize in the hackathon for our work.
My Duties
Interview, storyboarding, mockups, prototyping
Duration
2 days
Team
1 Community Expert, 1 Storyteller, 3 Developers, 1 UX/UI Designer, and me (UX/UI Designer)
Tools
Figma, Adobe Aero, Google Workspace
Background Context
Redlining prevented Black people and other individuals of color from purchasing homes
Redlining was a discriminatory practice targeted at Black people and other individuals of color through which banks, insurance companies, and other institutions, refused or limited loans, mortgages, and insurance outside of Seattle’s Central District area.
Anti-discrimination march in Seattle on June 15, 1963.
The Problem
Urban development in the Central District has erased cultural landmarks and spaces for Black individuals
Seattle’s Central District is confronting rapid urban development, leading to the disappearance of cultural landmarks, buildings, and spaces that served as community spaces for people of color, primarily with regards to Seattle's Black community.
Commercial Map of Greater Seattle from 1936. Zone "D4" denoted with a red circle represents Seattle's Central District.
The Solution
An AR experience preserving the Central District's history by showcasing cultural landmarks as they once appeared and elder's stories
RedLinesAR functions as an AR experience designed to preserve the Central District and connect current residents, and visitors, to their physical space. Users view cultural landmarks as they once appeared, listen to elder stories, and write reflections, bridging the past and present.
Hackathon Impact
Our team placed 3rd amongst 8 teams!
Following thorough review of our prototype and final presentation by a selection committee composed of technology industry and design professionals, our team received 3rd place prize amongst 8 teams and over 50+ participants!
"Outside the Red Line," our hackathon team! I'm in the 2nd row, 3rd from the left!
Interview Questions
Scoped to focus on the elder's close connection to the Central District
With only an hour and a half to interview a community elder, we brainstormed questions to capture their personal stories, connection to the Central District, and most memorable moments.
Challenge & Resolution
It was difficult to refine the scope of our questions given the elder's long lived experience. To address this, we relied on on our team's community expert's deep knowledge of the elders and the Central District's history, helping guide us in the best direction with our questions.
Community Elder Interview
The elder emphasized how much the Central District had changed and its prior sense of community and nearness
Our team had the privilege of interviewing an elder who was turning 100 years old! I served as one of the primary interview facilitators, which followed the structure of a semi-structured interview from which we gleaned extensive insights into the Central District area and the elder’s personal connection to it.
Interview Key Finding!
During the elder's time, he felt a strong sense of community and nearness with residents in the Central District, and emphasized the Central District is no longer the same.
Cecil, the lovely community elder our team had the privilege of speaking with!
Challenge & Resolution
We struggled to determine a design direction due to the elder's extensive narrative, referring back to our original product goal and writing down key themes we each gleaned from the interview.
Design Requirements
Highlighted community and nearness, bridging the past and present, and redefining the redline
Then, we outlined several design requirements to facilitate the ideation process. We opted to focus our product on the mobile platform, as opposed to a VR headset, for ease of use and greater accessibility. We also decided to maintain the focus on AR given the hackathon’s theme of immersive technology.
Target Users
Would focus on current residents and visitors of the Central District area
We then specified our target users, defining them in a two-fold fashion: including current residents and visitors of the Central District, to account for those who may not be aware of the history of their living area or are curious about the Central District, respectively.
Sketches
Conveyed how users would initially discover the AR experience and subsequently interact with it
Utilizing our design requirements, we had a collective brainstorming session during which we sketched ideas. My sketches in particular were used to illustrate how users would discover the experience and how the mobile UI would appear.
Several concepts around the user experience, user interface, and our design requirements.
Ideas portraying how users could initially discover the AR experience within their spatial environment.
Storyboarding
Portrayed a user scanning an AR QR code and viewing how a present-day building looked in the past
Afterwards, I created a storyboard of how users would discover the experience and to illustrate the mobile UI. As we were nearing the hackathon's end, the storyboard wasn't entirely fleshed out, but portrayed the product’s general interactions.
High-fidelity Mockups
I developed a few screens illustrating the building view and the interaction with the elder
Translating the ideas from our sketches and storyboard, I managed to create a few screens conveying the prototype's primary functionalities given the limited time frame.
A concept video created by our team's other designer illustrating how RedLinesAR would hypothetically function.
Post-Hackathon Design Interations
I added some visual polish to the initial mockups and created additional screens to further portray our concept
Post-hackathon, I independently refined the mockups I initially created and presented at the hackathon to further emphasize its functionality and refine the visuals prior to creating a high fidelity prototype of this new experience in FIgma.
Next Steps
Validate our ideas with the elder we interviewed to ensure the solution does indeed reflect the narrative and values they communicated.
Continue close collaboration with our team’s developers to ensure seamless implementation of the experience.
Enhance the app’s accessibility both around its usage and how users would initially discover the AR experience.
Learnings
Diversity of experiences in a design team will always be a strength.
Recognized the value of using developers as a springboard for ideas during the design process.
Learned the importance of involving community stakeholders within the design process as a method for them to knowledge share.
