AR Music App for Tube

Role: UX/UI Designer from conception to delivery

Tools: XD (Adobe Suite), Microsoft Office and Microsoft Teams

Team: Self-directed, with feedback from mentor and peers

Duration: Jan to Apr 2022, 12 weeks

Deliverables: Mobile prototype

-Project Overview-

Challenge

To bring users back to the tube, where ridership has dropped due to the pandemic by making their everyday commute comfortable and happy by solving problems that users are currently facing.

Solution

To design an AR music app that allows users to listen to their favourite music on the Tube, cover the dirt with their favourite AR animation and enjoy the journey as if it were their own space. It can provide users with a comfortable and happier journey and contributes to the recovery of ridership.

TfL Goal

TfL project’s purpose is to drastically improve the user experience on the Tube to bring more customers back and revenues after the prolonged pandemic.

User Goal

Users use the Tube to commute more conveniently and comfortably and to be happier.

UX Designer’s Goal

is to create happiness for commuters on the London Underground by solving commuters’ problems currently facing as well as to achieve my client (TfL) goal.

– Design Process –

I followed the double diamond process as follows:

Double Diamond

Discover the problems that commuters are currently facing on the Tube by conducting qualitative and quantitative research.
Define it based on the survey findings to analyse and prioritise which problems should be solved first.
Develop and design based on the requirements of users and TfL.
Delivery involves testing out different solutions and implementing improvements if things do not work.

Ideation

How might we design to make everyday Tube commutes better?

How might we design a VR game application for the tube?
How might we design an AR application to play on board?
How might we make a VR users-only carriage and charge the additional fee?

– Discover and Define –

User research

Qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted for user research to verify the problems with “how much” and “what”: Semi-structured interviews for about 20 mins as qualitative research with four participants and online questionnaires with 18 questions in open-text questions and multiple choices as quantitative and qualitative research with 17 participants.

Target Users

Commute reguraly
Those who live in London
Age 18- 60

Which do you prefer AR or VR on Tube?

User Research Result

“Overcrowded, noisy and dirty” are the current issues on the Tube.
The Majority, 52.9% of the participants ride on the Tube for approximately 30 mins and 35% of the participants ride for approximately 45 mins.
47% of the participants do not even play games on the Tube, only 18% of them play games and 35% of them play sometimes.
41% of the participants do not like to play and only 29% of the participants would like to play AR/VR games on the Tube.
94% of the participants want to have Wi-Fi on the London Underground.
59% of the participants do not want to have either AR/VR on the Tube. 41% of the participants preferred AR to VR 24%.
59% want to have live music and concerts on the Tube if available.

Research Insights

The pain points for most users are overcrowded, noisy, and dirty and it makes them uncomfortable onboard. Ideally, Wifi, Charger and AC will be available on a spacious, quiet and clean tube to be more comfortable.
AR is preferred by more users than VR based on my survey findings on the Tube.
Live music and concerts are more popular than playing games on the Tube. TfL branding is well recognised by users.

Key Design Decision

In response to the results, an AR music application was created instead of a VR game application. The app allows users to escape the noise of the Tube, and the AR animations hide their dirty parts, making them feel as if they are in a world of their own.
TfL branding, logos and fonts are utilised on the application to be consistent with the TfL branding image.

Competitor Analysis

POKÉMON GO
SPOTIFY
AMAZON MUSIC

Findings

A customisable character and very simple intuitive operations on Pokémon Go can be one of the key factors for the wider ages of enthusiastic fans.
Amazon Music has a function that retrieves what I have played online or even watched on YouTube and creates my personalised music selection which can be convenient for my users as well. The application’s top page and structures on Spotify and Amazon Music are similar and easy to use. I found that it might be hard to completely change the design once people got used to these applications because it may confuse users who are used to operating the application.

Key Design Decisions

The interface including the buttons and operations should be somehow familiar to users for an easy and intuitive interface, therefore, it should be simple and not too far from existing applications.

Persona

Here is one of the target users based on the user research conducted.

– Develop –

Storyboard

The storyboard was created to present stakeholders with the concept of this AR music application.

High Fidelity Prototype

I have designed the high-fidelity prototype with key design decisions identified through user research.

– Delivery –

– Conclusions –

What I Learned

Although many businesses and companies are now actively developing VR, not so many people are keen to play a VR application wearing VR goggles on board. One of the reasons would be the users ride on the Tube for a short time, and AR is more convenient to use on board and at the stations. Some people showed interest in advertisements or tube information such as delays and cancellations available at the stations and onboard using the AR app.

Next Step

Further user testing for iterations will be conducted to confirm whether my prototype including the place where the other language options for diverse users and the simple and similar interface of other competitors’ music applications is actually intuitive to use and desirable for the users.