Experiential Design / Task 1: Trending Experience
Natalie Chu Jing Xuan, 0354589
Experiential Design, Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 1: Trending Experience
Table of Contents
- Module Information Booklet (MIB)
- Lectures and Tutorials
- Task 1: Trending Experience
- Feedback
- Reflection
Module Information Booklet (MIB)
Fig.1 Module Information Booklet (MIB)
Lectures and Tutorials
Week 1/ Introduction to Experiential Design
In the first week, we started exploring various ideas involving Augmented Reality (AR). To help us better understand the potential of AR, we were shown examples of projects from previous students. This gave us a clearer picture of how AR can be used in design, as well as some inspiration for our own work moving forward.
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| Fig.2.1 Examples of Projects from Seniors |
Week 2/ Experience Design
This week’s lecture focused on deepening our understanding of what experiential design truly means. We learned that it’s all about creating meaningful and engaging experiences for users through design. In addition, we were introduced to user mapping and journey maps, two important tools that help us visualize the user's experience, from their first interaction to their final outcome. These methods will guide us in designing more user-centered and immersive experiences.
Fig.2.2 Week 2 Lecture
Following the lecture, we worked on a group activity where each team created a journey map for a specific location. Our group chose Sunway Lagoon, as it’s a place all of us had visited before. Together, we mapped out the entire experience—from arriving at the entrance to exploring the different attractions. For each step, we identified the gain points, pain points, and potential solutions to improve the user experience. This activity helped us better understand how to analyze real-life user journeys and find ways to enhance them through experiential design.
Fig.2.3 Week 2 Group Activity
Week 3/ Marker-Based AR Experience
In this week’s lecture, we explored the differences between Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR). Understanding these distinctions helped us better grasp how each technology can be applied to create different kinds of immersive experiences. Next, we had a group activity where we were asked to imagine an AR scenario in a specific setting—such as a gym, kitchen, or shopping mall. Our group chose the gym as our location.
Fig.2.4 Week 3 Group Activity
Besides that, we also began setting up our first AR experience using Vuforia in Unity. We started by installing the Vuforia Engine package and setting up the license key and Image Target database. The focus was on creating a marker-based AR experience, where an image acts as a trigger to display digital content. In our case, we used an Image Target to spawn a 3D cube whenever the image was detected through the camera. This helped us understand how image recognition works in AR and why the Image Target plays a crucial role in linking real-world visuals to virtual elements.
Fig.2.5 Week 3 Tutorial
Week 4/ Introduction to AR Interactions
This week, we took a step further by learning how to integrate UI button controls into our AR project. In the tutorial, we created two simple buttons—one to show the 3D cube and another to hide it. This helped us understand how user interaction can control AR elements in real-time.
After that, we added a bouncing animation to the cube to make the experience more dynamic. We then updated the buttons to function as Play and Stop controls for the animation. This lesson introduced us to basic interactivity and animation control in Unity, which will be useful as we continue to design more engaging AR experiences.
Fig.2.6 UI Button controls
Task 1
Instructions:
- Explore current and popular trends in the market to gain a better understanding of emerging technologies and how to create content for them.
- Conduct research and hands-on experiments to discover the features and limitations of different platforms. This helps in deciding which technology to use for the final project.
- Propose three potential ideas for the final project based on the experiments and research.
Explorations of Ideas
Before settling on my project ideas, I reflected on areas where Augmented Reality (AR) could make a meaningful impact, especially in education, design, and everyday experiences. I was inspired by the potential of AR to create engaging and interactive learning environments for children, who often struggle with traditional vocabulary learning methods. This led me to explore how AR could make language learning more fun and effective.
At the same time, I considered how people consume information nowadays—many prefer quick, engaging ways to grasp the main points of books rather than reading cover to cover. This sparked my curiosity about using AR to transform book summaries into immersive experiences that bring stories and concepts to life visually.
Lastly, I thought about personal expression through design, particularly tattoos, and the common hesitation people have when committing to permanent body art. I realized AR could offer a practical solution by allowing users to preview tattoos on their skin virtually, helping them make more confident decisions.
These reflections inspired me to focus on three ideas:
- AR vocabulary learning for kids
- AR book summaries
- AR tattoo previews
Proposal
Me and Xiang Lam worked together in a pair for this task. We both did some brainstorming and came up with a total of 6 ideas to suggest to Mr.Razif. For every idea, we wrote down the title, the problem, solutions, ideation, target audience, example, user interactions, technology, feasibility, and why it matters.
Click HERE to view my three proposal ideas
Fig.3.1 Proposal
Feedback
Week 4: Mr. Razif advised that my ideas shouldn’t just end with scanning; they need more interactive content. He suggested adding gamification for the kids’ learning idea to make it more engaging. For the tattoo preview, he noted it often only shows the design after scanning, so it needs more depth. This helped me understand the need for richer AR experiences.
Reflection
These first few weeks of the module have been a really eye-opening journey. Starting from exploring different AR ideas and learning about user journey mapping, I began to understand how important it is to design experiences that truly connect with users. Getting hands-on with Vuforia and Unity to create marker-based AR was a bit tricky at first, but it felt great to see something come to life through my own work.
Working in groups helped me bounce ideas around and think creatively, especially when we mapped out user journeys and imagined AR experiences in real places. The feedback from Mr. Razif was super helpful. It made me realize my ideas needed to go deeper than just scanning images, pushing me to think about adding fun, interactive features like gamification.
Overall, these weeks have given me a solid grasp of both the technical side of AR and the importance of designing with users in mind. I’m excited to apply what I’ve learned as I develop my final project.
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