Student Project / Mixed Reality Case Study
Creating an integrated physical and digital concept that explores an industrial designer's role in the Mixed Reality landscape.
Industrial Design/UX | Senior Studio | 10 Weeks (sponsored project)
Case Study
Industrial Design seniors at Western Washington University worked with HoloLens designers and developers to create "enchanted object" concepts for the Mixed Reality environment. Timepiece was created in collaboration with partners Emma Nestvold and Emily Bartlett, and was presented to Microsoft at their campus in Redmond, WA.
Contributions
User Research and Interviews
Brand Research
Research Synthesis
Concept Development
3D Modeling & Prototyping
UX Mapping and Concepting
Photography
Animation
Presentation
Research
Business enterprises are a large portion of HoloLens' target market, so we decided to create our enchanted object for office workers. We interviewed ten individuals from four workplaces to aid in problem discovery, which led to insights that guided our solution.
Workplace 1: Corporate Enterprise
Workplace 2: Small Business
Workplace 3: Cubicles
Workplace 4: Home Office
STRATEGY
The product should Create a spatial connection to the past, present, and future without distraction from the task at hand.
Process
We explored different ways of portraying time to the user, as well as a number of ways to interact with the passing of time, including objects that move or change as time passes.
"Anti-Form"
The hollow shape of the product tells the story that it is incomplete outside of Mixed Reality. It creates negative space where holograms can live, completing the form.
Storyboards by Emma Nestvold
Concept
Timepiece is a connected light ring that connects office workers to the past, present, and future.
Hololens Form Language
Interface
LED lights display glanceable information to the user outside of Mixed Reality, and HoloLens creates a holographic UI that is locked to the device that provides deeper access to time-based applications.
PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE
Prototypes
To validate the physical side of the interface, we used an Arduino and a Neopixel ring to build a hardware prototype that simulated the three modes. This laid out how the product might be realized in manufacturing and assembly.
The HoloLens itself was used to evaluate both form and interface throughout the project.
Video captured from inside HoloLens
Special thanks to the team at Microsoft for their help guiding this project.