HaudGo!
Haudenosaunee Go!
Client Project
The Client
Bonnie Whitlow :
Indigenous Special Projects Officer at Wilfrid Laurier University
The Course
Created for :
UX200: Design Thinking II
Taught by Dr. Maurita Harris
Presented on March 29, 2023
The Team
Mya Certossi
Project Head & Manager of Communications
Aliyah Ishmail
Head of Digital Design & Executive Editor
M'Kai McLachlan
Researcher & Product Designer
Hania Khawar
Researcher & Product Designer
Alexi Froese
Product Designer
Vanessa Lin
Product Designer & Videographer
The Brief
"Create an educational experience that allows people in Canada to learn about local Indigenous history and incorporate augmented reality to enhance the immersion of the experience."
Our Idea
This project bridges indigenous history with present day technology and gets local people physically involved and out in the community learning about the history of the Haudenosaunee people in Brant County and surrounding area. It has users locate, find, and interact with physical stations scattered around the Brantford downtown area. Here they can unlock stories on the app about Haudenosaunee history, also unlocking collectable incentives to allow for intrinsic motivation.
Understanding
We began this project by conducting an extensive interview with the client, asking a variety of questions to help better understand expectations, ideas, and how we as a team could do the Haudenosaunee First Nations justice as non-First Nations people. While the group was diverse, we took extra care to not take credit for any stories or lived experiences of the Haudenosaunee people and made sure to show proper appreciation for their allowance to develop the experience and help spread their words.
We continued by looking into the possible users of the experience, testing with 15 participants and creating an empathy map, two personas, a journey map, and making our main goals and objectives clear.
We came up with a variety of goals that would gauge our success in this project, the goals including...
Respect and honour the Haudenosaunee Community
Accessibility
physically and
in-app
Incorporate AR for better engagement
Research
This project included both first and second hand research, both in reading the few resources available about the Haudenosaunee culture and by conducting usability testing for the app. In this research we progressed testing through our prototypes, from low to medium to high-fidelity. Methods included Interviews, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing, Wizard of Oz Testing, and Secondary Research.
Many found the app easy to use. Metrics like time on task were measured in seconds, all tasks leading to partial or full success, with users simply curious about the design and its fun and engaging features. We gained plenty of feedback throughout the process as well as important and thought-provoking questions from the usability test participants.
Prototyping
From low to high fidelity, these prototypes were rigorously tested and the idea and content grew. From the first sketch to the final clickable Figma prototype, our team has been extremely proud of the work completed on the different levels of prototype. We made many changes and improvements throughout the rapid iterative process, finding ways to appropriately fit in gamification and incentive, making the travel portion feasible, and improving the over-all experience within the application.
Final App Prototype
In addition to the app, I had the opportunity to build the physical station that the users would use to scan and unlock the content on their phones. This has several features, connecting the app to real life, providing incentive, and advertising the app to passersby. It was also easy on the wallet, using boxes donated from the school and crafting materials I had around.
Presenting
Results
At the end of March 2023, we had the opportunity to present our findings professionally to a panel of judges from the community and university. It was reviewed for its desirability, viability, feasibility, research, and over-all innovation. The app, box, and over-all presentation came out with an unanimous 120/120 score, taking first place in the competition and providing real-world steps for the future of the product.