Timeline
10 weeks
(Oct ‘22 - Dec ‘22)
Project Type
AR/VR App
Metaverse Project
Skills
App Ideation
Rapid Prototyping
UI/UX Design
Tools Used
Figma
Adobe CC
Oculus
Team
Eamonn Burke
Chris Han
00. Demo Video
01. Context
The number of American VR users has grown from 22.5 million in 2017 to 50.2 million 2020. This number is projected to reach 65.9 million by 2023. In 2022, 1.1 billion people actively use mobile AR devices. The number of users is expected to reach 1.4 billion in 2023 and 1.7 billion in 2024. The global metaverse market is expected to reach $679 billion by 2030. Its user base of 400 million is ever expanding. What does the future of tech look like in virtual reality?
How can we re-imagine the way we approach app design through the Metaverse + virtual reality?
02. Exploration
We decided to focus on the relationship that food will play in the Metaverse.
The topic of food + eating is one that is overlooked in the conversation surrounding virtual reality. This is exactly why we wanted to focus on it. When the social media takeover of the 2000s occured, it was initially difficult to imagine how food could play a role in a space where taste could not be conveyed. However, food + eating found a place via platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Yelp, and more.
The team created the following generative maps in order to help define the following questions:
What does an eating experience entail beyond just consuming the food?
What explaratory questions can we ask that will help us find a space for a virtual reality app to provide value?
Results
Based on our exploratory questions, we set to find the relationship between the following topics and the food experience:
Method of food preparation
External states and factors (emotional and physical)
Pre-exisitng expectations for the meal
Social implications
We also wanted to answer the following questions:
What elevates the necessary act of eating into a satisfying meal experience?
What besides the taste of food impacts an eating experience?
What exactly are we paying for when we spend money on food?
03. Prelimary Research
Our team produced a questionnaire and an interview based on our findings from generative mapping. The goal of these research tools was to gather insight on user habits and stories surrounding eating, as well as have a preliminary evaluation on the familarity of our user base with the Metaverse. Our interview demographic included college students in their 20s, since people around this age have grown up using the newest technology and may be more familiar with concepts such as virtual reality.
Questionnaire Results
Most respondents wanted to spend less time preparing food, preferred eating a homemade meal that has been prepared for them, and was indifferent about who they dined with.
Interview Insights
We analyzed the results of the interview to define the experience of eating, and find the main themes that influence this experience. The eating experience can be broken down into 3 parts, and there are certain factors that affect each part:
1) The preparation process of food (for example, cooking or traveling to a restaurant)
Factors: reviews, time available, enjoyment of process
2) Consuming
Factors: taste + quality of food, time available to eat, company present, entertainment available while eating
3) Post-eating rest period
Factors: taste + quality of food, company present, cost (if dining out)
Respondents also reported feeling apprehensive about VR technology and the Metaverse. They generally was not well-informed on the topic, or felt nervous that virtual reality was permeating too much of daily life.
04. Ideation
Our team narrowed the findings from our preliminary user research in order to target 3 problem spaces where we could intervene and provide additional value with an application. These 3 interventions was meant to enhance either the eating environment, quality of food, or search process. The first intervention explored enhancing the environment by bringing multiple VR users into the same space via the Metaverse during mealtime, which aimed to lower social media use and promote interconnectedness. The second intervention explored enhancing the cooking process by using AR technology to assist someone in cooking a meal, which aimed to streamline the food preparation process and promote healthy eating by calculating nutrition information.
The third intervention explored enhancing the restaurant search and review process by combining VR technology with a social media platform. This intervention hoped to allow users to preview restaurant interiors through VR, and use social networks to help spread the word about exciting dining destinations. Our team ultimately moved forward with the third intervention.
Users will be able to visit restaurants in the Metaverse before they ever go there in real life.
Users will be able to visit a restaurant in the Metaverse before ever going in real life. Our intervention takes advantage of VR features to immerse the user in a 3D, interactive preview of a dining location. Users can gain a comprehensive preview of what their experience at a certain restaurant will be like before they ever go in person.
Colored artwork called “auras” are assigned to restaurants, which are created as an aggregate of individual user auras.
An individual who visits a restaurant using our app will have an aura created for them based on the quality of their experience. The auras of restaurants are represented as an aggregate of individual user auras. The auras are viewable in virtual reality, and allow users to gain a visual and immediate impression of what an experience at a particular dining location might look like. Auras are influenced by physical factors (temperature, noise level, quality of service) as well as emotional factor (conversation, mood, personal enjoyment).
Users can post and share their auras onto a feed to create personal recommendations.
Personal recommendations feel more authentic and convincing than ones from strangers.
Emotional Preview + Physical Preview + Personal Recommendation
= finding the perfect restaurant
Our intervention explores…
how VR and AR technology can enhance a pre-existing organic experience
the nuances behind developing a social media platform and cultivating community
the foundations of recommendation and review apps, and the psychology behind review culture
the relationship social networks have on producing recommendations and creating new human experiences
05. User Resarch I
We conducted an interview asking 9 respondents about how various physical and mental factors impact their emotions and dining experience. We also wanted to understand why people are incentivized or disincentivized from posting reviews on sites or social media. Lastly, we wanted to further explore the nuanced ways different social situations alter the dining experience.
We showed participants pictures of several different types of restaurants — from cafes to fast casual to Michelin star — and asked them to tell us the first word that came to mind and why. We did this to understand what imagery is immediately evoked based on the ambiance and why.
3 Key Insights
1) People have different expectations and goals based on the social situation they are in
2) Many people don’t leave reviews, or only do so when they have a particularly good or bad experience, which may biase the impression of the restaurant for others
3) People prefer to get restaurant recommendations from friends, not from the internet
Additional insights include…
People want the same restaurant qualities for different reasons (eg, dark environment when someone is shy, or when they are having an intimate meal)
The type of noise matters as much as — if not more than — the level of noise
Space is a largely influential factor depending on the party size
Certain factors become more or less important depending on party size and event type (eg, cares about food quality when eating with family, but not as much with friends)
06. Refinement
Project Definition:
How might we use the Metaverse to help people decide which restaurant to go to according to their specific goals and priorities? How do we remove bias from this process?
Key Stakeholders: Restaurant Goers
Restaurant goers can visit a 3D, immersive rendering of a dining location in the Metaverse during their search process. They will also be able to see individual user auras and the restaurant’s aura, which gives them a preview of the emotional experience they may have.
Users will gain a quick impression of whether a restaurant will fit their needs, without ever having to leave their seat.
Key Features: Explore, Immerse, Customize
Explore: Explore a live map in VR to locate restaurants and see surroundings
Immerse: Immersive sound + visuals replicate the atmosphere
Customize: Filter immersion on multiple dimensions based on user needs
Objectives of Final Solution
Provide an immersive and accurate experience through sound and visuals to allow restaurant goers to preview both the physical and emotional atmosphere, allowing them to find the perfect location for their social scenario
Removing bias from the restaurant review process by creating a new, holistic method of review collection
Promote the use of personal recommendations to encourage the proliferation of positive dining experiences as well as our app usage
Journey Map
Storyboard 1
Storyboard 2
07. User Research II
After refining our project, our team shared our storyboards and asked users for their input. An affinity diagram was created from their responses. The team came up with actionable insights to execute in response to these uncovered themes.
Importance on location + exploration through physical proximity → Need a map option
Skepticism about the process being too much work for too little reward → Need a simple, quick, singular process with incentives
Reservations about the use of AR/VR → Need a strong justifcation to convince the user
Interest in the level of accuracy of the app in discerning emotions, interest in privacy concerns → Need to maintain subjective viewpoint
Interest in knowing exactly what to expect with the app → Need a filter mechanism
08. The Product
