Role
UI/UX, Front End, Graphics
Year
2022
Collaborators
Jonathon Morriss, Calais Soper, Sejin Lee
A team project for Media Design School and Eke Panuku Development. The goal was to activate the
space of Tiramarama Way in the Wynyard Quarter and bring more foot traffic to the area. While
this was the initial idea, construction developments part way through put a halt to the project.
It was then refactored into an installation to celebrate Matariki.
Tūrama was aimed at rangatahi, young and prospective students visiting Media Design School during NZ Tech
Week. The goal was to allow them to explore Matariki’s values through interactive elements and
reflect on the year ahead before leaving high school and embarking on their journey as young
adults. The project won bronze at the Best Awards 2022.
Initial Exploration of Ideas.
The project was centered around Tiramarama Way which is a pathway found at the Wynyard Quarter. Because the goal was to activate this space we needed to research and find what makes it unique as well as any features which may deter people from visiting the location.
We discovered unique points in the architectural design of the location which featured circular patterns on the floor. These represented the tides flowing in and out of the historical Auckland Harbour. Lights hanging along the entire pathway represented constellations. These findings would strongly influence our visual designs.
Unfortunately, despite the unique features of Tiramarama Way nearby construction and poor weather led to low engagement of the pathway. The project was eventually refactored and moved into the Media Design School lobby.
The project was eventually moved into the Media Design School lobby due to changes in Eke Panuku’s developments.
During initial research we wanted visitors to explore Tiramarama Way and tie its values to Matariki. However during early stages the project plans to have the installation outdoors in the pathway were canceled due to development plans by Eke Panuku.
Our team still felt passionate about the project so we elected to move the project into Media Design School and refactor it for both Matariki and the 2022 Tech Week events which would bring in crowds of rangatahi and young prospects entering tertiary studies for the first time.
Following initial concepts we conducted user tests to assess engagement of relevant target audiences.
With a new plan in motion the team decided to test concepts and research the target audience. Because the audience was young and prospective we decided to focus on the idea of exploration of self and reflection of their goals and Mātauranga Māori values.
To facilitate this we decided to create a three part journey of Exploration, Connection and Reflection.
The Exploration stage would involve discovering values that align with rangatahi through posters and wayfinding. The Connection stage involved connecting with the chosen values through AR portals on the walls. Finally the Reflection stage was completed through a digital interface followed by a unique projection of the user’s personal constellation.
Initial UI prototypes and iterative testing process.
We adopted an iterative and agile design process which mean creating prototypes and testing them on relevant target audiences. Through insights we would refine and our concepts.
For my particular role I also designed the Reflection stage’s interface as well built it in HTML, CSS and native Javascript.
Through testing it was found that the initial UI lacked visually engaging elements and that the values displayed needed something more impactful to sell the feeling to the audience. There was also an issue of input sanitisation as the interface required users to input their name.
To refine the final product I added graphic elements as well as animations to engage the audience. As for input sanitisation I developed a profanity filter. However one big lesson I learned on the day of the installation going live, is that my profanity filter could never account for all the profanity the students tried with languages that I was not familiar with. I found that really interesting and it was a lesson I will remember.
The Experience - Exploration Stage
Through constant refinement and testing we developed our final concept of the three part journey. The first step being exploration. This step was the discovery of Mātauranga Māori values through posters on the wall of the installation.
Visitors were guided by wayfinding on the floor through to the next step.
The Experience - Connection Stage
The second stage involved the use of AR filters accessed through Instagram. This was done by printing graphics with a QR code linking to our specific filter.
Images of Tiramarama Way were also stuck to the walls, each image had an associated set of Mātauranga Māori values linked to them. Using the filter would produce a 3D portal showing the values and connecting them to Tiramarama Way.
The Experience - Reflection Stage
Finally for the final step of the experience, visitors would interact with an iPad containing a digital interface. Through this interface they would input their name, the Mātauranga Māori values they resonated with and their birthday.
Using this information we would procedurally generate a constellation which is unique to that person. The constellation would then be projected on screen before becoming a single star adding their light to a collective galaxy.
