Stranger Plants

Augmented Reality / Education / 3D

Role : Solo Designer and Developer

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 PROBLEM STATEMENT 

Educational resources for plants are often perceived by viewers as bland, inconsumable, or inaccessible, leading to a disinterest in exploring this area of science. This leads to limited interest in plant conservation and environmental health. So I decided to focus on this issue for my 2020 Capstone Project.

DURATION 

5 months


SOLUTION

An augmented reality education tool that helps young students explore rare and interesting plants in a 3D space, with the aim to cultivate knowledge and curiosity towards the plants.

TOOLS USED 

Figma, Xtensio, Adobe Suite, Maya, Zbrush, Unity, Vuforia, Visual Studio

 

PROCESS

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RESEARCH

To gain a better understanding of the problem, I conducted user research in the form of observations and interviews to explore more into the topic. We also conducted research into what makes science classrooms effective.


KEY OBSERVATIONS
  • When looking for resources on plants, they occur more in print and website material rather than videos or audio.
  • Visual aids help students engage with the material and help create an effective environment.
  • Interactive learning tools about plants would help develop a student’s interest.
PERSONAS

 

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DESIGN DIRECTION

After conducting the user research, we inspected the key requirements the application would have. The key requirements were:-


  • Attractive to children through colorful interfaces and cartoon-like icons.
  • Tangible visual aids so users can better understand them.
  • Interactive spaces where people can view resources.
  • Simple navigation and design to keep the attention of the user.

 

The direction we chose would be an augmented reality application that displays different plants in 3D so users would have a visual aid, and can view and interact with plants in a 3D space.

PROTOTYPING

Once I understood the different elements to include, I conceptualized the wireframes and user flow of the application. This process helped put the idea on the whiteboard, and a product that could be critiqued and improved.


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LOW-FIDELITY PROTOTYPE 

After understanding the concept, I moved into low fidelity prototyping on the whiteboard to sketch out a user flow and wireframes.

 

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High Fidelity Prototype

After completing the low fidelity prototype, I received feedback on the designs. The biggest challenge was dividing the screen such that the user could access information easily while viewing the visual aid. With Figma, the higher fidelity prototypes were created.

 

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 2D AND 3D ASSET CREATION

PLANT FOCUS

While researching the types of plants I wanted to highlight in the project, I was drawn to rare and interesting houseplants, due to their sculptability and sustainability, and overall positive mental health impact.

 

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2D ASSET CREATION

The icons for each plant were created in Adobe Illustrator. To create precise looking models, I used reference images found online. The biggest challenge faced was trying to find a good balance between a cartoon-like and accurate image.

 

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3D ASSET CREATION

With the 2D assets created, I moved into 3D asset creation using Autodesk Maya for initial layout, Zbrush for texturing, and Unity for color textures. In the end, the models looked like:-


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 IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSETS INTO PROJECT

Once the plants were created, we created high fidelity prototypes of the screens with the different plants.

 With the screens prepared, I designed and developed the application in Unity, and added the 3D models to the file.

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After this process, I implemented the rest of the plants in a similar way to create the rest of the augmented reality application.

 

At the end of my senior year, I had the opportunity to present this project as my capstone to the entire school, explaining the concept and the methodology.



Future Scope


In the future, I would conduct user testing for the application to understand the effectiveness and usability of the application. For user testing, I would conduct heuristic evaluations, cognitive walkthroughs, and think-aloud sessions, and other methods to gauge the user experience with minimal bias.

I think this application can be expanded further into learning about more interesting and complex concepts in simple and interactive ways. Creating more accessible visual aids would help people in learning new concepts effectively. It has potential in education in science, design, and art.

 

Thanks for looking through my work! 😊😊😊

Connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at sowmyaa.chandra@gmail.com. I would love to talk 🎨design, 🌱plants, or anything you have in mind!