Gardens by the Bay: Creating Seasonal Attractions in Augmented Reality
I was a UX intern under the Singapore Tourism Board’s (STB) augmented reality (AR) department in 2022. I conceptualized ideas that integrated AR solutions to Singaporean tourism companies and created lo-fi wireframes for these solutions in the development stage.
On-site demonstration of The Lost Fairy
One of my proudest works was crafting the user experience and writing the game narrative of “The Lost Fairy”, an AR storytelling game set in Floral Fantasy, an indoor attraction under Gardens by the Bay (GBTB). I also represented the team by pitching my wireframes to the various representatives of GBTB and had discussions with them to get feedback about our work.
A picture with the augmented reality team at STB (I'm in brown!)
💐 Background
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The business of GBTB is heavily dependent on routinely introducing seasonal sets to attract visitors. However, the physical nature of these sets require large amounts of resources to curate, construct, and maintain, which is costly and unsustainable in the long run. As such, GBTB is looking for an affordable digital solution that can be “freshened up” every couple of months, giving visitors a reason to revisit (and another reason to get picked up by by my favorite news outlet, Mothership).
Moreover, Floral Fantasy spans only 1,500sqm (~3 basketball courts), and although beautiful, is a short experience for visitors. To keep visitors entertained, GBTB is looking to work within the spatial constraints to extend the visitor experience.
With these goals in mind, the “The Lost Fairy” AR app is developed in line with STB’s goals to introduce AR into the Singaporean tourism industry. Seasonal digital content can be easily updated by pushing out new app versions, at the same time extending the visitor experience by introducing a virtual dimension to augment (haha) the actual flowers at the garden.
For this project, I created 44 lo-fi wireframes to encapsulate the narrative and experience, with 6 detailing the interface and the rest drafting the flow. Image blurred in accordance to STB's policies, please contact me for the details and I will share as much as I can!
🔬 Process
Site visits to GBTB with the team
I started the UX process by conducting interviews with various representatives from Floral Fantasy to better understand the user and to determine what kind of narratives will appeal to them. However, it quickly became apparent to me that this UX project was unlike any software development project I was familiar with. Since AR exists between the physical and virtual world, there are a multitude technological and physical considerations that must be addressed to ensure the user experiences the game as intended. Here’s how I solved key issues that cropped up during the conceptualizing phase:
Scanning Trackers
As part of the UX team, I tagged along with the AR dev team on their site visits to Floral Fantasy to access the environment and listen to their considerations. Through the site visits and conversations with the dev team, I gained a deeper understanding of SLAM tracking, the method used to allow virtual assets to be accurately positioned in a physical space.
SLAM TRACKING
EXPLAINED
"SLAM tracking technology first requires users to scan a physical tracker that is placed within the environment. The tracker's position will then be registered as a reference point, allowing the app to generate a virtual map that accurately overlays the physical world."
- me, explaining it as best as I can
The problem was that the act of scanning a tracker was unintuitive and removes the user from the experience. Moreover, as AR was a new technology that our users might be experiencing the first time, they might not know that SLAM tracking requires them to hold the camera to the tracker for several seconds before it can work as intended.
Therefore, after several brainstorming sessions, I came up with an idea to weave in the concept of a “hunt” into the narrative, where users will have to search around the garden for animals to scan. This adds another mechanic into the game, weaving the chore of scanning trackers into the gameplay itself.
Screen capture of the hunt mechanic introduced
Moreover, this justifies the team to tuck the AR trackers away in corners just outside of eye level, maintaining the theme and aesthetics of the physical space.
AR trackers disguised as elements of the hunt
To ensure users successfully scan the trackers for the required amount of time, I proposed to add in animations that will play during the duration of the scan, encouraging them to hold the camera steady while the scan is happening in the background.
AR Filters and Social Media Sharing
After coming up with the narrative and objectives for the 5 stages of gameplay, our several rounds of testing helped us realized that the time taken to complete the game still fell short of our proposed target of extending the visitor duration of Floral Fantasy.
We went back to the drawing board to generate solutions and alternative game mechanics to extend the gameplay, and finally arrived at the conclusion of AR filters. Upon successful completion of each task, users will be rewarded with a unique 3D AR asset that can be placed in the virtual environment. These assets are animated and manipulatable, giving the user the option to place it in the environment however they want.
AR filter demonstration to encourage photo-taking
Additionally, the photo-taking mode will be triggered, where photos and videos can be taken. After which, users are presented with 2 options, save or share, both of which are conveniently added to reduce barriers to social media sharing, an action that can help boost the publicity of the game and attraction.
Photo and video-taking features with 3D AR assets extends the visitor experience
💭 Final Thoughts
This was my first commercial UX project and it was a real honor to be working with GBTB on this. The AR team at STB was very understanding and trusting of me, letting me handle the game narrative and user experience even though I was only an intern back then. Looking back I realized how much I have grown from that experience, not just in practicing UX, but also in UI, augmented reality technology, and game design.
I vividly remember deep diving into level design and game mechanics in preparation for this project, something I would never expect to do as a UX intern. (Did you know that the best games are designed such that the player can figure out the controls and objectives of the level without reading any instructions at all?) Still, I believe that a UX designer’s edge lies in their adaptability, be it to the problem at hand, to new technology, or to a new team entirely.
Through this experience, I solidified my understanding of the role of a UX designer, and how it is as much a communication role as it is a design role. More often than not, I find myself having to coordinate between the art, dev, and client-facing teams while crafting my user experiences, as these different stakeholders have different objectives and capabilities that have to be aligned for the user’s need to be met.
Bouldering with the team! Leaving this in here because I liked it and had fun that day