SHLTR

Overview

Role: UX/UI designer

Tools: Figma, Spark AR, Paper prototypes, Unity

Challenge: How can you leverage “Smart City” technology in order to facilitate connection and create a communal experience?

Problem: How can we promote communication and community through the use of public transportation infrastructure?

Our approach: We can create an Augmented Reality application that allows users to leave encouraging messages and answer thought provoking prompts.

For this project, I worked in a group with three other members. I was in charge of designing the user experience, as well as components of the UI. This was done at George Brown College from January to March of 2020.

Research:

My group and I began conducting research and collecting precedents of other AR uses in transportation. After observing transit stops around our neighbourhoods and researching AR applications, we came to three conclusions:

Users were on their mobile phones while waiting, keeping to themselves.
Augmented Reality applications could be used as a tool to connect individuals with other individuals, instead of individuals to transit stations.
AR can be used a dynamic community tool.

Findings:

After deciding on the bus shelter as the central location for our concept, our next step was to consider the current experience of waiting for a bus. We immediately flagged the feeling of loneliness as a potential experience that could be improved, as it was something that could be experienced whether you were surrounded by strangers or physically alone.

These conversations brought us to our design question: How might we change the current lonely bus stop experience into one that generates community and connection?

Persona & Journey map:

Our persona is an 18 year old student who is new to the area as she has just started school. She is anxious about her unfamiliar setting, making friends at a new school and waiting alone for long periods of time at the transit stop by herself. The bus to her suburban neighbourhood comes infrequently, and she finds herself waiting 10-15 minutes for a bus to arrive.
Lisa could use SHLTR to communicate with other students in the area who may be interested in waiting at the stop with her.

Our journey maps follows Lisa as she arrives at the transit stop, waits there, discovers the SHLTR app and finally leaving in a better mood than she started with.

Systems map:

Our system map outlines what elements are required for SHLTR. This was used to keep track of the relationships between the elements that SHLTR requires.