Project Duration
10 weeks
Course
Perceptual/Cognitive Human Factors (IACT 375) Sung Park
Team Members
Maik Rieffenstahl
Sejal Mittal
Acalapati Priyatama
Samantha Shultz
Tools
Figma, Adobe CC, Miro
My Role
UX Writing and Research
Overview
Doubloons is a pirate-themed scavenger hunt that utilizes an interactive app with AR technology that helps children complete quests in a treasure hunt. The child is motivated to engage in physical activity by a reward that their parent has hidden in a treasure chest.
Vision Video
Objective
We were given 10 weeks to create a system to solve a problem based off of a psychological need. The need we identified as a team was competence, specifically physical competence in a social context.
Problem
Many children suffer from low physical and social competence.
Obesity affects around 13 million children.
Parents do not know what socially engaging activities would encourage their child to be more physically active.
Children who struggle with physical and social competence
80
Defining Competence
Physical Competence: Doing well at sports, learning new outdoor games readily, and preferring to play sports rather than watch others play
Social Competence: Having a lot of friends, being easy to like, and being a frequent contributor in social interactions
Target Audience
6-12
Children who struggle with physical and social competence
Primary Research
80
16
Survey Participants
Interviews
Research Insights
Parents have a lack of understanding of the importance of competence
Some children feel less motivated to do physical activities
Some children feel less motivated to interact with other kids
Children of ages 6-7 develop the physical skills, motor skills and attention span that sports require
Some children feel an insufficient amount of intrinsic motivation
Afffinitization
After completing our research we identified key insights and wrote them down on sticky notes. We then clustered the sticky notes according to like categories using the online stick note platform Miro.
How might we help parents build their child's physical competence in a socially interactive and engaging way?
Personas
Concept
Evaluation 1st round
For our first round of user testing we recruited 5 participants, 2 of which were UX experts. We were focused on usability and ease of navigation for the app as well as the user's mental model.
Map
Problem
The map overview is misleading and the user is confused by the function of the map.
Solution
Simpler conceptual model and user flow. The map now shows progress of the user in the game
Buttons and Hints
Problem
The Labeling Scan is not intuitive for children. The wording of the hints is not clear.
Solution
The scan button was replaced with the label "Discover". Better conceptual and intuitive hints were developed.
Evaluation 2nd round
For our second round we again recruited 5 participants which included 2 UX experts. We continued to focus on human factors and usability in our design and sought to refine the aesthetics of the app.
Solution
Group chat was created if the child wants to play with another person. The functionality and readability of the chat was improved.
Problem
Lack of opportunity for collaborating with other players. The existing group chat was not robust enough.
Chat
Solution
Improved aesthetics to suggest a more "map-like" look. Renders of pieces of the key were added to the map screen.
Problem
The map screen does not read like a map but instead a visual schema. Fake key pieces were used which confused the user about their function.
Map
Solution
Check marks were added to the completed quests and an exclamation mark was added to the "Hint unlock" button for clarity.
Problem
The user's progress and how to progress to the next step was unclear.