Richard Lam

WayBak AR Tours

App Design, Service Design
The Pitch
How can we play a part in the future of immersive tourism?
The Objective
Combine a guided walking tour with an AR experience.
The Problem
Tourists get tired holding up their phone, and have limited attention span for historical and educational content.
The Solution
Designed a tour with flexibility, breaks & multi-sensory content for continued engagement.
Key Takeaway:Building multi-sensory prototypes and engaging user tests.
Tools used: Figma, Zeplin, Miro, iMovie, iPhone camera, Pen-and-paper.
Timeline/Team: 3-week sprint with a team of 3.
"I’d use this. It’s good for someone like me who doesn’t have a lot of apps. I read books [to learn about history], so this is a good way to bridge the gap."- Test User
Client and Project Deliverables
WayBak is a company developing augmented reality (AR) historical walking tours in New York City. The deliverables included building their iOS app interface, and designing the AR tour experience, backed by user research on travel habits and their expectations from and interpretations of AR.

Primary User (based on 7 interviews) Tourists

GOALS
• An immersive, authentic, and social experience
• Surprising content that creates a narrative
NEEDS
• A fun and knowledgeable tour guide
• Opportunities for flexibility/exploration
• Technology tutorials are helpful
BEHAVIORS
• Values Google Maps for general navigation
• Visual and hands-on learner
PAIN POINTS• Has a limited attention span for a tour experience
• Gets physically tired from walking & holding phone

9

CONTEXTUAL INTERVIEWS- Observed how users interacted with AR apps
- Interviewed walking tour guides
- Discovered tourists' favourite tour experiences

20

USER TESTS- Tests informed 3 prototype design iterations
Revised tour structure from user feedback
- Expanded on-boarding for new users

25

SCREENS- Including on-boarding, tour selection, rental,
navigation, and tour experience screens
- Created spec doc for developers

9

20

25

CONTEXTUAL INTERVIEWS
- Observed how users interacted with AR apps
- Interviewed walking tour guides
- Discovered tourists' favourite tour experiences

USER TESTS
- Tests informed 3 iterations of prototype designs
Revised tour structure from user feedback
- Expanded on-boarding for new users

SCREENS
- Including on-boarding, tour selection, rental,
navigation, and tour experience screens
- Created spec doc for developers

Creative Approaches to User Testing

PROBLEM: With limited time and little budget, I came up with creative approaches to testing the AR experience, using paper cut-outs for low-fidelity, and pre-recorded videos for high-fidelity.
‍
KEY TAKEAWAY: All 15 test users understood the concepts and instinctively moved their phones to line-up artificial triggers, providing us with real data as they walked through the tour holding their phones and describing the experience.

Insights and Features

PROBLEM
Users need for help with learning new technologies such as AR.

SOLUTION
Added on-boarding tutorial screens to explain the process for first-time users.


13/15 test users used on-boarding; Two chose to skip.

Tutorial instructions modified from low-fi to mid-fi based on user confusion.
PROBLEM
Users expressed wanting freedom and flexibility during what they saw as a self-guided tour.

SOLUTION
Provided a 'recommended route' for the intended tour and narrative experience, but allowed for deviation, breaks, and self-selected points of interest.

10/15 test users chose to follow the Recommended Route. 5 users wanted to skip ahead to areas of interest.
PROBLEM
Users expressed fatigue at holding their phone up and watching long AR narrations.

SOLUTION
Added "hotspot" buttons for supplementary, optional content that relied more on audio information.


This was newly-designed content that was proposed to our clients. After 12/15 users stated this was their favourite part of the tour, it is being incorporated into their development.
‍
PROBLEM
Users stated their favourite part of walking tours was the little surprises provided by their tour guide along the the way.

SOLUTION
Without a live guide, this 'surprise content' was simulated by prompting the user to "look up!" partway during their navigation to view additional AR content that was not advertised.


15/15 users felt highly engaged at this point, prompted by a combination of visuals, audio, and haptic (vibration) feedback.

Insights and Features

PROBLEM
Users need for help with learning new technologies such as AR.

SOLUTION
Added on-boarding tutorial screens to explain the process for first-time users.


13/15 test users used on-boarding; Two chose to skip.

Tutorial instructions modified from low-fi to mid-fi based on user confusion.
PROBLEM
Users expressed wanting freedom and flexibility during what they saw as a self-guided tour.

SOLUTION
Provided a 'recommended route' for the intended tour and narrative experience, but allowed for deviation, breaks, and self-selected points of interest.

10/15 test users chose to follow the Recommended Route. 5 users wanted to skip ahead to areas of interest.
PROBLEM
Users expressed fatigue at holding their phone up and watching long AR narrations.

SOLUTION
Added "hotspot" buttons for supplementary, optional content that relied more on audio information.


This was newly-designed content that was proposed to our clients. After 12/15 users stated this was their favourite part of the tour, it is being incorporated into their development.
‍
PROBLEM
Users stated their favourite part of walking tours was the little surprises provided by their tour guide along the the way.

SOLUTION
Without a live guide, this 'surprise content' was simulated by prompting the user to "look up!" partway during their navigation to view additional AR content that was not advertised.


15/15 users felt highly engaged at this point, prompted by a combination of visuals, audio, and haptic (vibration) feedback.

Full Prototype Demo

CURRENT PROJECT STATUS:

Designs sent to app development.
Read more about this tour design and our analysis of the tourism industry on Medium.

Key Learning & Takeaways

With very little resources and a lot of creativity, you can make incredibly robust prototypes and valuable user tests.

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design is the best (and hardest) solution.
Richard Lam
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