CASE STUDY

VRHangOuts

Team

What I did

Conceptualization & Ideation

Persona, Scenario, Storyboard

Contextual Inquiry

Prototype Evaluation

What I used

Paper Prototype

Figma

Adobe Acrobat DC

Context

Type: Academic Project

Duration: 4 months

Course: User-Centered Design

Time: Jan. 2021

TL;DR

In the face of a global pandemic, billions of people worldwide feel a heightened need for connecting with their loved ones remotely. The design theme of this project- "Staying Connected in a Shuttered World" is concerned with redefining society's relationships with everyday technologies that make socialization possible. The idea that we presented is VRHangOuts- a virtual reality meet up and interaction platform. Inspired by Google HangOuts, we took a page out of their book and added Virtual Reality (VR) technologies for enhanced interaction and life-like experience.

Highlights

Introduction

The pandemic brought many changes and challenges to our everyday lives, one of the most significant being prolonged isolation and disconnect from friends and family. In particular, the younger generation, working professionals, or students living alone are spending extended periods of time confined to small living quarters, on their own with little to no social interaction. The goal of this project is to overcome these challenges and present a product based on the design theme - "Staying Connected in a Shuttered World". The project will address:

The Product

VRHangOuts is a mobile app connecting users in a virtual reality space. Offering an array of environments (e.g., a library setting, a café, etc.) to choose from, users' avatars (and by extension, the users) can hang out and enjoy a level of interaction and expression, connection and communication, beyond what is typically possible in other virtual technologies. In VRHangOuts, users can control their virtual environment, see others, communicate with them and move around slightly in the space. The app will be compatible with both Android and iOS devices. In addition to allowing people to engage with each other in virtual spaces, the app would offer expansion towards specific areas use cases including game packs, movie theater experience, and more interesting work meeting settings.

DESIGN THEME

Staying Connected in a Shuttered World

THE PROBLEM

The common methods of virtual communication can be exhausting and lack the human element of face-to-face interactions

In the restrictive conditions caused by Covid-19, we wanted to find a more engaging way for isolated individuals to connect to loved ones in novel and exciting environments from the safety of their homes.

THE SOLUTION

Meet VRHangOuts- A virtual reality balm for your socially distant lives.

OUR APPROACH

Formative Evaluation

Brainstorming Session

It involved an exploratory research to find ideas and inspirations from elsewhere to generate new ones on our own. Most of the group ideas where towards creating a platform where everyday collaboration, interactivity would be emulated.

Competitive Analysis

Some of the most popular software in the market like Teams, Messenger, HangOuts, Zoom, WhatsApp, Outlook were handy when connecting people, but most of the time they failed in providing an appropriate level of social presence and immersivity. Solutions- like Virtual Theatre or Theater VR- that provided a high-level immersion and interactivity felt too niche and were not inclusive when it came to supported devices.

Contextual Inquiry

Persona, Scenario & Storyboard

Auro is 28 years old and works as a Development Practices Manager in an NGO. After the pandemic, Auro started working from home. He works all day and hardly gets enough time for his family and friends. He is frustrated from working in front of screen all day and not getting to see his close ones. From morning to evening, his work has become a dominant part of his life. He is fed up with the numerous zoom meetings and craves for in-person human interaction. He is certainly open to adopting online avenues that could enable him to have more realism in his virtual space. 

It is Monday at 8:30 pm and Auro is really tired after work. He has an early morning meeting with his colleagues and so- with visible frustration on his forehead, he sets up an alarm. The next day, he finally wakes up after snoozing his alarm thrice and crawls to his laptop to attend the meeting. The circle of life repeats itself and Auro is completely drained by the end of the week. Then one bright sunny day, an old friend- Bindo messages him and tell him about the VRHangOuts app- a virtual reality space connecting people where they can control their virtual environment, see others, communicate with them, and move around slightly in the space.

Storyboard

Prototype Evaluation

The design of our product consists of a VR application that would connect to user's phone. This application would provide them with different environments that they can select to hang out with their family and friends.

The design choices we made revolved around ensuring that the product is accessible and affordable by most people. Most of our target audience uses a smartphone in their daily lives, and a VR headset can be bought at a very cheap price or can be made using a cardboard. The following images represent the user-interface of the application, and what they see when they put their VR glasses on during a session.

Video Prototype- VRHangOuts

ITERATIVE DESIGN 

User Feedback

The prototype evaluation with a participant from the target stakeholder group took place via a scheduled remote interview. The process started with pre-video introductory questions, followed by video presentation, and concluded with post-video questions and discussion. The purpose of the evaluation was to engage and elicit feedback on the purpose, use and broader features of the prototype. The collective feedback we received as a group can be summed up as:

Redesign

The product started out being very focused on just providing a way to bring the basic human element back to virtual interactions. Our main use case was just a straightforward social gathering, where users would be able to see each other in a novel 3D space that was not their own dwelling. Friends or family could see and catch up with one another while having a snack, mimicking a basic hangout session.

CONCLUSION

Reflections

The design project wasn't easy to set in motion in the early stage. At first, brainstorming can be a daunting task to tackle on but once the first ideas emerge, things start to take shape rapidly from there. Brainstorming necessitates dealing with a lot of moving parts from the exploratory research, ideations, articulation of ideas and then being able to organize them can be messy, more so when focusing on a specific user community. We managed to get a lot of ideas, however, working on the video prototype is what really helped to build something concrete with them. Working with our user in a scenario supporting their goal, shaped and refined our ideas towards something of practical value. Cohesiveness of the team was at stake at times since perspective on goals and targets were not always shared among peers. Healthy debates and consensus building were keys to overcome these challenges.

  "Why shouldn't people be able to teleport wherever they want?"  
- Palmer Lucky, Founder of Oculus VR

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