Memory Box. How to revive and transfer memories in XR?
This is a project from the course Design of User Interfaces for VR at MUNI. The assignment was to design a prototype of a simple app in VR/XR.
Overview
The Memory Box is a design experiment for XR (augmented reality). It is intended for current and future seniors. This prototype is meant to test part of the design process for XR. It also explores the possibilities of working in ShapesXR. The goal is not to test the concept or functionality.
So, how can you bring a loved one’s memories to life with pictures? How could we use the immersive environment in XR to preserve memories for ourselves or our loved ones?
Problem statement
Objects that carry pictorial or textual information have the potential to be augmented or modified. We can address this by digitizing the object and storing its digital form in a database. We can further change the digital representation and add extra information to it.
Thus, we have to work with an external system. We need to distinguish and work correctly between the digital copy, the representation, and the original object. It seems that this whole process and work could be streamlined, the situation calls for experimentation.
Design challenge
How could one work with objects containing existing information? Could they modify or add to that information using other tools? I chose photographs as a topic to explore. For my project, I decided to create a minimalist environment for collecting family photos. I wanted to revive memories with captions or audio recordings. This environment should allow users to easily browse and view the photos. Each photo should have a caption or audio recording that would help the user recall the memories associated with the photo.
By photograph, I mean a tangible object. These are the kinds of photographs that were around from the beginning of photography until shortly after the turn of the millennium. They were replaced by digital photography.
Ideation process
I was interested in both traditional and non-traditional views of the “gallery”. I worked with memories and interacted directly with the physical object. I see this idea as a synthesis. It involves digitizing photos in real time. It also includes facial recognition and image enhancements, such as color or animation. It also includes adding custom notes and sound. I was significantly influenced by Volodymyr Kurbatov’s concept of interaction.
Concept development
The storyboard proposes how one could work with objects. It shows how to modify or add to the information using other tools.
- The concept of augmented reality forms the basis of the entire experience.
- We hold real photos in our hands.
- The system can recognize them using face recognition. It can also scan them in.
- After this step, the system can offer extra options for working with the photo. It can enhance the colors, add animations, annotations, or sound.
- This would work the same way when viewing memories or adding new memories.
Of course, this is a first draft of the scenario and the concept has not been critiqued.
Prototyping
This was my first experience prototyping for XR in ShapeXR. At first, working and creating objects in 3D was frustrating. It got better with practice. I found working with the interactions very intuitive. Perhaps their limited nature helps the novice designer. For the prototype, I decided to simplify the project to a digital-only version. I will work only with digital photos. I didn’t aspire to convert the designed storyboard into ShapesXR. It was for experimenting and practicing. I don’t have the necessary experience with this tool. But I tried to get closer to the original idea, so I “bent” it. I adapted it to the possibilities of the application. I used my knowledge of this environment.
Scenario: we are sitting on a sofa and there is a box in front of us. For the purposes of the exercise, I’ll skip the step of how the box got there. We hover the cursor over the box — hover on, it zooms in and we know we can do something with it using the play icon.
The box is opened and photographs appear on the “pile” in front of us. I am now consciously working with only 5 photographs. After a 2 second delay, the photos spread out in front of us above the box. This simulates a situation where the photos are organically spread out on the table. Clicking on each of these 5 photos will show us a larger version of it. Here I was hoping to use hover to interact to achieve a smoother experience, but this causes errors. Of course, if someone wanted to select the top photo, they would hover the cursor first on the bottom photo. The cursor movement comes from the middle and bottom. This inadvertently activates the wrong photo.
The photo is selected. It enlarges in front of us. With a second click, we can enter. The surroundings darken and we are in the picture. Here is just a very simple indication that you can record your memory. But I didn’t want to explore this more complex situation yet. Clicking back on the box returns us to the previous state. I wanted to avoid using another UI. (The icon could be visible on mouseover, but the action on click). And by clicking on the box, we went back to the beginning.
Conclusion
This prototype has a lot of room and potential for improvement. I enjoyed working with interactions in Shapes XR. The application’s UI had some imperfections. The experiment excited me and led me to other ideas on similar topics.
Big thanks to Markéta and Vojta for the opportunity, support and their excitement.
I can visit my prototype in ShapesXR: 7aczs96r
