I. Introduction
Hangout is a smart & immersive virtual reality (VR) application designed to allow users the ability to hangout with friends and family during times when they can't be together.
While attending Georgia Tech, I worked on a small team to create a useful application that is relevant to current events. Since, we are in the middle of a pandemic, we recognized a virtual hangout application as extremely resourceful during this time.
- Personas
- Competitor Analysis
- Flow Diagram
- Storyboard
- Sketch Wireframes
- Wireframes
- Prototypes
- Visual Design
- Digital Mockups
- Style Guide
- Logo Design
- Color Styling
- Iconography
- Typography
The Hangout virtual reality app was created to assist individuals coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic. People are unable to see their loved ones in interesting and engaging ways due to social distancing and other health and safety precautions.
- Adobe XD
- User Surveys
- Adobe Photoshop
- Flowmap
- Miro
- User Interviews
- Trello
- UXPressia
Create an engaging and fun virtual reality application that enables users to connect with their loved ones in creative ways. Hangout allows users to reconnect in various virtual environments, with this, social distancing is a thing of the past!
II. The Design Process
I worked on a small team of 3 UX Designers and Researchers, together we brainstormed our ideal user for a potential virtual reality app. We focused on people coping with social distancing and other issues due to the COVID Pandemic, we created a Proto-Persona and gathered inspiration for the utility of the application.
We conducted competitor analysis for market research, user surveys, user interviews, and an Affinity Diagram to gain insight into our target user’s needs and prioritize key features to ensure the success of the product.
Upon gathering our User Insight, we created two User Personas that matched our potential user profile. I conducted Competitor Analysis to further understand the market standards for a virtual reality application.
We realized there are currently no dedicated VR experiences that stimulates bonds and lifelike situations and knew our product would stand out in the Market. We created a Feature Prioritization Matrix to begin constructing our sketch wireframes.
We iterated our User Flow Diagrams for both the mobile application and the actual VR experience. Upon completing that, we developed our Lo-Fidelity Clickable Prototype in preparation for User Testing.
We conducted user testing on our Lo-Fidelity Prototype, we then iterated our visual design for the Hi-Fidelity Prototype. Overall, users were confused by onboarding as it was solely available on the mobile portion.
III. Conclusion
Virtual Hangout is the VR experience of the future. An online social space where you can talk, interact and attend fun events with friends and family. We have a strong passion for this application and hope to continue ideating, evolving and creating something that could really make a difference in the lives of people everywhere one day.
