Rethinking University Tours

Connor McGaffin
Sep 3, 2018 · 4 min read

In an effort to reimagine the experience of touring Carnegie Mellon University, I illustrated two proposals through the use of storyboards.

First Iteration

PROPOSAL “A”

The first proposal for shifting the Carnegie Mellon tour experience would be an app, which upon downloading, asks which locations you wouldn’t want to miss, and what matters most to you in a college experience. This app would target visitors who want to wander the campus independently prior to meeting with a student tour guide.

Once this brief survey is completed, the app will calculate your location and provide you with a map that will guide you to all other locations on campus that you’d like to see, but aren’t a part of your “can’t miss” selection.

The app provides you with a pathway leading you to these secondary locations around campus. Once there, users can hold their phones up to different landmarks on campus to learn about them and what happens inside of the buildings. If a user is unexpectedly intrigued by the landmark, they are able to add it to their “can’t miss” selection, but only on days where the campus is not as busy with tours.

Additionally, the app can be used in certain locations as a window into augmented simulations of student life in its off-season, such as the annual buggy races on Tech Street.

Eventually, the user will receive a notification through the app which indicates that their personalized tour is ready.

Upon meeting their tour guide at a perscribed location, the tour route will already have been created for the visitors to learn more about areas from the perspective of a current Carnegie Mellon student. Some of these areas might include campus dining locations, athlectic facilities, and freshman housing.

PROPOSAL “B”

Another proposal to rethink the Carnegie Mellon tour experience is through use of a printed map that sensitively responds to interactions in augmented reality. This app would be ideal for visitors who enjoy independent exploration and are likely interested in the technological advancement synonymous with the university. Additionally, the app might appeal to prospective students who wish to gain a more immersive experience which cannot be found in a group tour.

In this proposal, visitors will retrieve a map of Carnegie Mellon’s campus from the university center. A companion app can be used to view a rendering of campus augmented onto the printed map.

The app will locate your position on the map and render a Scotty Dog to represent your location. At this point, the user may use their finger to point to locations on the augmented map, accessing an overview of the area.

If they would like to see the location themselves and learn more, they may add it as a stop in their tour. When ready, the app will prompt the user to either approve or decline a proposed tour route.

The app’s proposed route is sensitive to events that may be of interest to users, such as the migration of students after their 10:20am class near “the fence”. During the tour, the visitor will use their headphones to hear the virtual tour guide’s directions around campus.


Second Iteration

In this proposal, the paper map is replaced by an abstract arrangement of a campus map on the floor of the Tepper Quadrangle. Visitors can point their phone at the composition and campus buildings will be rendered from their footprints. At this point, your location is marked on screen by a scotty dog, which serves as an avatar. Tapping on various buildings provides you with more information. Buildings of interest can be added to a personalized tour. Once all destinations are selected, a route is proposed by the app and visitors begin their tour.

Along the tour, visitors will be presented with audio cues that indicate an opportunity for a relevant student anecdote to be spoken or for interaction with the environment. Among these interactions include the ability to “paint” the fence with their fingers through augmented reality. Their fence can be saved to their camera roll or shared to social media.

Connor McGaffin

Written by

Carnegie Mellon student raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and working in the city of Pittsburgh. Interested in environments design and animation.

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