The Draw
How do I work with a team to create an AR enhanced book?
This project was a combined effort between two UX students and two English students at UVU. The English students were required to write a 10-page essay and as a UX student me and my team member were required to design the book and include 8 AR features to create an immersive experience.
The Designer
When it came to team roles some of them were obvious but some evolved during the process of the project. My other UX team member was a little hesitant on the design aspect of the book but was really interested in the AR features. Having previous experience using InDesign and feeling up to the challenge we decided to split up our responsibilities on the project. He was able to fully explore the AR features and I was able to design the book's layout. We also made this decision so that we didn't have to figure out how to share both the AR and the InDesign files back and forth since they are the greatest software applications for collaboration. Since we were able to split up into the Layout and the AR designers we also in turn were able to become each other's mentor since we both have experience with the each other's side of the project. It was nice to be able to have someone who cared about the project as much as I did and so gave great feedback during our status meetings.
Pivots and Process
When we first started the process of deciding what our topic would be we had a list of so many to choose from. We all wanted to pick something that we each cared about enough to enjoy the topic later on and stay committed to the final result. We finally settled on this draw that humans have to nature, especially when it comes to sports. We had a pitch proposal set up with this topic in mind and were able to pitch it to the class to get feedback and approval from our professors.
Soon after this pitch proposal given by both English and both UX students we lost all communication with one of the English students. We joke about what where he could have gone but in all reality, we'll probably never know. This really threw a wrench into our plans because we needed so many pages for the final version of the book and we were a writer short. We decided to move along anyways and do our best to make up for our missing writing.
Our last remaining English student was a champ. Completed his writing before the due date and stayed in constant communication. We're lucky to have this writer stay committed to our project so we didn't end up with just a picture book at the day of our final presentation.
It was difficult to design a book layout without knowledge of what it was I was designing for. It became even more difficult when our English student gave us his annotated bibliography and he had decided to pivot from natural environments and the sports performed there to more urban/man-made environments and more extreme sports. On the design side both me and my team member decided it was best for the book's layout to be as flexible as possible in case of another pivot in the content we were designing for. The AR features were more tricky to be flexible on so half-way during the process we had to pivot and change more than half of our features.
Our biggest test when it came to the book was testing the AR features. Our main source of testing was watching as our peers, friends and family tested out the AR features. Could they figure them out for themselves? Could they get them to work? As we continually did this we were able to make adjustments to our book before our final print version.
Hindsight is 20/20
Of course looking back there are changes I wish I would have made during our design process. I wish I would have explored more layouts before getting attached to one so quickly. Then again I made that design decision on a more simplistic style in case our writer pivoted 180 from our original idea, I could make quick changes to the book without having to throw out the whole design. I also wonder if I should have played more with the AR features and maybe let my team member have more freedom to help with the layout and the design. Yet we also made those decisions based on the fact that file sharing and collaboration were difficult. However when we presented our final version of our book, I couldn't help but feel so proud of what we created. Despite all the pivots, decisions, and difficulty we were able to create something I'll likely continue to share and keep on my bookshelf for a long time to come.