Wrapit!
Mobile App | AR App
A sustainable solution to gifting
UI Design
Visual Design
(Oct-Nov. 2020)
This project aims to look into the psychological function of gift wrappings and provide a more sustainable alternative incorporating AR technology without lessening the emotional engagement for both the gift-givers and recipients.
Wrapped is an augmented reality app for providing emotional engagement through virtual interactions between gift-givers and recipients through editing AR gifting and viewing the gifting by scanning the corresponding QR code.
The problem of gift packaging wastes
540,000 tonnes of wrapping paper and gift bags are thrown out each year
Plastic wrapping paper and gift bags with coatings can't be recycled
Design Opportunities
Gifts could be wrapped merely by plain wrapping papers. Through the AR App, the gifts can be addressed and presented with beautifully rendered interactive elements, preserving visual excitement and emotional meanings.
- Create emotional connection between the gift-givers and the recipients
- Create anticipation towards the gift
1. Survey: Understanding the general user pattern
To begin with, I conducted an online survey using Google Forms and 68 effective responses was collected. The research intended to generate quantitative data and study the general pattern of people’s attitudes towards both traditional gifting and potential tech alternatives
2. User Interview: Gathering in-depth thoughts
In order to validate my observations while prioritizing the needs of the senior users, an SME interview was conducted with 6 users who have previously completed the survey
The empathy map of traditional gift wrapping/opening processes
3. Insights for Opportunities
Centered on conveying meaningful messages
Gift presentations related to specific scenarios can pass meanings or shared memories
“It would be fun if I can build a scenery of the places we visited together.” —participant 1
“I really wish that in addition to the limited selection of patterns on the merchandise shelf, I can construct patterns that are more meaningful to the gift recipients.” —participant 2
Fun Aspects: Interactivity + Shareability
Interactive gift presentation and easy connect to social media could enable engagement
76% of participants appreciated the innovation of AR packaging and 44% of the participants who were willing to try AR gift wrapping wish to be able to share them on social media. —survey data
“They (the paper wrappings) are very static and hardly eye-catching.” —participant 1
Making the sustainability concept standout
Users willings to try for sustainable reasons
69% of the participants were willing to try AR gift wrapping because of sustainability. —survey data
“It sounds like a lovely sustainable idea…I would be willing to have a try doing something for the planet.”—participant 1
Providing higher freedom of personalization
Users indicated they enjoyed the more personalized experience with digital platform
“I was always having a hard time picking the ideal wrapping paper in the local store” —participant 1
“I like to draw on the gift wrapping…” —participant 2
4. Persona
Based on the findings of the research results and the analysis for design opportunities, I scooped down the target user groups and created a set of persona
How might we design an AR APP that allows editing and viewing virtual decorative elements to substitute traditional gift packaging without lessening its emotional function?
Design scope breaking down
- Maintaining the emotional meaning of gift wrapping as a foreshadowing for the gift
- Extending the emotional meaning of gift wrapping on the “postcard” aspect
Idea Mapping
In this further consideration step, the product’s topic of creating an AR app that allows editing(for gift-giver) and interacting(for recipients) with scenarios is categorized into two aspects: learning from the experience with traditional wrappings, and adding original functions to enhance the experience
Storyboard
User Flows
Wireflow
Moving towards prototypes with higher fidelity, I want to incorporate a color palette that arouses joyful and relaxing user experiences while fitting in the eco-friendly theme.
The major challenge in this project happened during the transformation from the problem to solid gamification gifting ideas. The virtual gifting bearing the exact same form like colors or patterns are actually a considerably weak idea since they might not carry the same weight emotional meanings as the physical ones. It is then I decided to look into other characteristics of gifting or wrapping and carry the idea of interactivity(mimicking the action of unwrapping gifts) into my design.
Another challenge of designing a platform that enables editing is to maintain the major functions while keeping the experiences for users very straightforward and intuitive. In this project, I really enjoyed the process of pinning down user difficulties with AR modeling and transforming the process into a playful and doable journey, partly inspired by the experiences with modeling with myself and surrounding folks.
Lastly, even though I have been going over this simulated editing process in my mind for rounds and rounds, it is hard to see how the user might play with it in reality without seeing them interact with the real product. The envisioned future of this project might be to bring the prototypes into interactive prototypes with solid coding skills.
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