Team
Garrett Kuroiwa
Hannah Ferry
Angela Casidsid
Chang Wu
Lead Developer
Project Manager
Web Manager
Visual Designer
Developer
Project Outline
Kindling is an augmented reality (AR) app that ignites social interaction and play, which is targeted to people of all ages. With Kindling, people can participate in drawing activities and draw in the same local space as other users.
This project was conceived and developed by seniors in University of Washington's Interactive Media Design throughout the 2019-2010 school year. Kindling was showcased at the end-of-the-year Capstone event, which took place on June 3, 2020.
My role as the visual designer on the team was to help visually conceptualize the physical app and the user's experience, taking our target audience' wants and needs and our goal for the project.
I was responsible for visual assets that would be shown on the app, as well as marketing assets and materials such as branding and the video trailer.
Role
Original Concept
Our group originally pitched Kindling as a VR program in which people could join rooms and small groups to tell personal stories and communicate deep-rooted feelings. Users would gather around a virtual campfire in the middle and would be encouraged to talk with others with activity of drawing in the sky.
However, this project was soon changed into an augmented reality (AR) application. With VR, our team -- and our target audience -- would need constant and easy access to a VR device in order to program and use the app. We realized that with AR, anyone can use it on their mobile devices and it would broaden our target audience.
Storyboard of a potential user experience using Kindling (VR).
AR Concept Idea
Our group pivoted to an AR app, which would focus on the idea of play by drawing in the user's surrounding environment and being able to draw with other players in the same space. Users would have tools such as a color selector, brush size, undo/redo, clearing canvas, space/surface mode and camera mode.
User interface buttons would match branding colors. In the finalized app, icon backgrounds would have reduced opacity for users to have visibility of their screen.
Logo & Branding
The purpose behind Kindling is to "ignite" and "spark" creativity and social connections, so the logo would resemble fire in some way, along with a warm color palette. A mascot is also made with the same color palette that would represent the user.
For our team's Capstone presentation, each team member had their own version of the mascot.
Trailer
The Kindling video trailer showcases a preview of our app and how it can be used in everyday life. The social interaction between users is portrayed in the trailer, since the actual app lacked a social feature to share drawings with other users. I was responsible for capturing footage along with my programmer, as well as putting together and editing the final video using Final Cut Pro.
Storyboard of the trailer.