An Augmented Reality app to educate people on the value of Free-Flowing Rivers and the need to keep them free. Explore the story of how dams impact habitats and communities in an immersive engaging experience.
We were fortunate to partner with Apple on this app. They supported the app by launching it in an educational event in Chicago and by giving it a big exposure in the App Store. The result for WWF has been a huge number of downloads.
We created a very big 3D model that represents five different habitats and created a storytelling guided experience to generate awareness on the consequences on habitat and people when a dam is built.
One of the most complicated factors on the project was understanding how people were using AR when there were practically no educational AR apps created when we started. Being a pioneer is fun, but it made us work and rework on all the flow of UI and UX. This is a wireframe of usability for the app.
One of the most complicated factors on the project was understanding how people were using AR when there were practically no educational AR apps created when we started. Being a pioneer is fun, but it made us work and rework on all the flow of UI and UX. This is a wireframe of usability for the app.
We had a lot of fun in the process of creating the landscape and its elements. We used tools that we had never used before to assess what was needed from the model. For example, we built a Lego model almost at full size to understand sizes and proportions. We also worked very closely to the Communication’s officer at WWF to decide the habitats (African Savannah, Amazon grasslands, Himalayas, Mekong Delta) and the elements To be included.
We did a moodboard to find the right look and feel for the experience where we laid out references for every single element. We also did a 3D storyboard to have an audiovisual approach to the experience.
Going from a geometrical mesh of the obejct to applying texture to the lansdcape
We were aware from very early on that in AR less is more. People are so immersed in the experience and the 3D object, that any other element becomes redundant. We kept the user interface very minimal and used only markers over the object to lead people through the story.
Be prepared to try and try and try until it feels right. Because AR is still a new media, there is a big process of iteration before you land on the optimal usability and design of the experience.
We went to great lenghts to make sure that even the last detail was important. We did a lot of tests with the icon that had to represent our app. And I think we found a really good one!
