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Manizales City

Enhancing traveller journeys with an immersive experience

AUGMENTED REALITY

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The Project

The Municipality of Manizales in Colombia approached the University of Caldas with the challenge of creating a prototype of a solution that helps tourists learn more about the history of Manizales.

 

The goal was to design and create a prototype of an engaging and interactive solution that showcases the city's unique cultural and historical landmarks while also providing helpful information to tourists visiting Manizales.

ORGANISATIONS 

Municipality of Manizales

University of Caldas

ViveLab Manizales

MY ROLE

Design Lead

RESPONSIBILITIES 

  • Leading the ideation and concept explorations

  • UX Design

  • Usability testing

  • Stakeholders management

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Approach

Design Thinking

We followed an iterative design thinking approach that consists of four phases: Empathise, Define, Ideate and Prototype.

 

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1. EMPATHISE

In this phase, we aimed to understand the problem from both stakeholders of the Municipality of Manizales and tourists. We held a session with the stakeholders of the Municipality of the city to define the project goals and expectations.

 

Additionally, we conducted user research by interviewing and observing tourists in the city of Manizales to gain a better understanding of their needs and preferences.

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INSIGHTS

Engaging Alternatives 

Tourists want to learn about the city's history but find traditional methods, such as guidebooks or audio guides, not to be engaging enough.

Exploring Their Own Way 

Many tourists prefer to explore the city on their own rather than joining a guided tour. They want to have the freedom to discover and experience the city at their own pace and in their own way.

Information Gap

Tourists were interested in learning more about the city's history but often found it challenging to access engaging information.

 

Exploring the city on-the-go  

Tourists tend to use different mobile Apps and websites to explore the city, learn about historical insights and discover hidden gems in the city.

2. DEFINE

Based on our research insights, we defined a problem statement that would guide us in the coming phases.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

How might we effectively communicate the relevant historical and cultural information about Manizales to tourists in a way that is engaging, intuitive, and easy to understand?

3. IDEATE

With the problem clearly defined, we conducted a brainstorming session with the design team to generate ideas for the key elements and features of our solution. After refining and prioritising these ideas, we came up with the features we would test in our prototype.

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Solution

An interactive Augmented Reality (AR) app that provides an engaging way for tourists to explore the history and culture of the city of Manizales. 

 

Using a mobile device, users can scan marker images placed on monuments in the city, unlocking a multi-scene visual story that contextualises each monument's historical significance. 

The AR app showcases four different scenes that reveal the story behind each monument through a combination of 3D imagery and text. Users can scroll through the different scenes to immerse themselves in the augmented reality experience and gain a deeper understanding of the city's history and culture.

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4. PROTOTYPE

Once we had a list of potential features, we started prototyping our AR app, moving from a low-fidelity to a high-fidelity version.

 

We began by creating sketches to refine our ideas within the design team and share the concept and features with the developers and stakeholders. 

In our first round of testing, we simulated an AR visualisation using a prerecorded video. We tested it with a group of users and collected feedback that guided us to create a higher-fidelity prototype using Unity.

 

We installed the AR application on a tablet and conducted further tests with users at a monument in Manizales, where we placed a marker image. After three iterations, we had our prototype ready. 

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SCENES & NARRATIVE

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Takeaways

Setting Expectations

Although our prototype received a positive response from the Municipality, it was not further implemented due to conflicting timelines and resource allocation. I learned it is crucial to align with stakeholders on the complexity and implications of a technology development early in the process to manage expectations on delivery time and resources required. 

Starting small

Low-fidelity prototypes are an efficient way to ensure that everyone involved in the project has a common understanding of the design solution. This was especially important for our cross-disciplinary team, which included designers, developers, and stakeholders. Having the low-fidelity prototypes allowed us for quick iteration and feedback that we used to move to higher-fidelity versions.

Simulating 

Due to the high complexity of AR developments, simulations can be an effective solution during the test phase. This ensures that ideas can be quickly tested and refined before committing significant time and resources to their implementation.

TEAM

Diana Carolina Montoya - Project Manager 

Cesar Steven Vallejo - Visual Designer 

Juliana Soto - Designer

Juan Herrera - Developer 

Camila Hurtado - Design Lead

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