In this article, I talk about the process of designing a website that allows users to incorporate AR interactions in Print Media effectively without any prior knowledge of coding.

Problem Statement 😩

Print media, which is one of the oldest and basic forms of communication isbecoming less effective and the lack of innovation is leading to a reduced attention span amongst people since they see the same old boring stuff too often.

Opportunity 💡

There is an opportunity to renovate the way print media is packaged!

Adding AR elements to the printed pieces will give people a whole new way to interact. It would be an improvement as the same old with postcards, business cards, catalogs, and more will feel as if they have their own life!

Introducing PrintAR 🏆

Adding AR Interactions in print media is a tedious task!

Doing so requires knowledge of a variety of software and coding techniques and the whole process usually takes 2–3 days for a newbie.

A successful solution to this problem would be to develop a platform that lets users create 2D Designs and then customize and add pre-built AR Interactions.

PrintAR lets you do this!

Design Brief 🧻

Build a new platform that will enable users to add pre-built AR interactions to the print media. The users will have the liberty to customize these interactions. Also, the platform should just not be confined to adding AR interactions but it should act as an all-in-one platform for users to complete their print media requirements.

Target Audience 🫂

As per the report by GlobalWebIndex, the majority of people who are efficient and interested in using XR lies in the age group of 16–35. Majority of people complete their schooling at the age of 18 and a few of them begin their freelance business, job, or some other kind of profession after that.

The target audience is people aged 18–35 who are working professionals or have a business. The major professions of people who will be using it are marketing, developers, and other creative fields such as design, event management, and performing arts.
However, the professions are not limited, anybody who wants to outshine and stand out is a part of the target audience. The target audience has some knowledge of using computers and gadgets.

Primary User Research 🕵️‍♂️

The domain of AR is new for me and I felt the need to understand what current practices are being followed. I arranged a call with two people who are working in this field and have a decent knowledge of the topic.

Below are the top observations from the conversations:

1. Although AR Market in India is growing drastically, many people are still not aware of the use of AR and it may be difficult for them to use this platform.
2. Anything like “demo videos” would be of great help to understand the product better.
3. There is a lack of good internet speed in India, the website has to be optimized in a way that it works fine even in the low-speed internet areas.
4. The marketing techniques are changing drastically and brands are more inclined towards the use of AR and VR to launch their products.

As a part of Primary User Research, I also conducted a survey focused on my target audience. The survey was taken using Google Forms.

Below are the statistics of survey:

1. 22 people took part in the survey.
2. The majority of the people who took part in the survey were Students, the rest were employed in Jobs, Business and Freelance.
3. The majority of people rated their relationship with computers and electronic gadgets as “good”.
4. There is a mixed reaction of people when it comes to awareness of AR and VR Technologies. A large chunk of people have heard of these technologies and they have used it somewhere but they are not much aware of the uses of these technologies.
5. 86.4% of people believed XR can be the future of technology.
6. 81.8% of people were willing to use a website that enables them to add interactions, animations to the print media easily. Rest were not sure.

Below are the main observations from the survey:

1. Most people are aware of the existence of XR.
2. Not many people have good experience with such technologies.
3. Not many people use visiting cards.
4. There is a need to revise the way in which visiting cards are used.
5. Many people believe that XR can be a prominent technology in the future.

Why will people use PrintAR?

1. To promote the vision of their brand through modern means.
2. In the hope to connect with the client better and leave a solid first impression.
3. If new technology saves time for business entities & customers, it would be revolutionary.
4. It will revive the interest of people in print media.
5. It can make them stand out in the eyes of their customers.

What may prevent the use of PrintAR?

1. If the interface is hard to use, it may hamper the experience of people and they might settle for something which is easier and less time-consuming.
2. Lack of access to the internet in some places may hamper the experience of viewing AR interactions embedded in the visiting cards, posters, or any other print media offered by PrintAR.
3. A steep learning curve may refrain people from using PrintAR.
4. If it’s too expensive, people might not use it.
5. Lack of awareness regarding the technology may be another reason behind people not using it.

Competitor Analysis 🤫

It is important to know the competitors who are already working in this domain. I went through a few of the top platforms and I analyzed their strengths and weaknesses.

A common thing to all of them is that NONE of them are based in India and NONE of them provide the complete solution.

Following are the platforms which I included in the competitive analysis:

Design Goals 🎯

Before working on the visual design of PrintAR, I decided on the following design goals:

1. Usability: The product must have an easy-to-use interface. A bad interface should not be the reason for people leaving the platform.

How it is implemented?
PrintAR has a very easy-to-use interface. Features are not cluttered and they are structured properly.

2. Customer Experience: As many people are new to AR, their experience with this product should be good. They must not feel “AR is not their thing”.

How it is implemented?
PrintAR is designed in such a way that even a person with not much experience in AR and tech can add AR interactions easily to the print media with drag and drop options. Also, there is a video tutorial that would help people in using PrintAR efficiently.

3. Visual Appeal: The produced product must be visually perceived as modern and high quality.

How it is implemented?
PrintAR has a formal aesthetic and the colors used give it a very modern look.

4. Performance: The performance of the product should not be laggy.

How it is implemented?
The main cause of laggy behavior is overload on the site. The pre-built assets will be stored on the cloud server which will reduce the load on the site.

5. Technology: Although some knowledge of computers and the internet is expected from the users, the lack of knowledge of technology should not be a barrier for the users.

How it is implemented?
Adding AR interactions in PrintAR requires no knowledge of coding and it does not demand high efficiency with designing tools contrary to what is an essential requirement normally.

User Personas🤝

Use Case Scenario✍️

Identifying Constraints ❌

Following are the constraints that I feel might come up:

1. Even after optimizing the website, the website may load slowly in areas with low internet connections.
2. The AR interactions are triggered by Image Tracking. There are certain criteria for images to be tracked perfectly every time. A few of the optimal requirements are:
   a. Optimal Image Dimensions are between 500 and 1000 pixels.
   b. Square Aspect Ratio (1:1) is best.
   c. High Image Contrast is optimal.
   d. Even distribution of textured areas.
   e. Minimum whitespace is optimal.
   f. Images with a lot of text are not optimal
3. There are a few technological constraints. These are majorly concerned with the development of the product but can be solved.

Functional Cartography 🗺️

Visual Design 👀

Have a look at the prototype 👇

It’s not that perfection cannot be achieved.

It’s that it’s so hard to stop there. ~Robert Brault

I am quite satisfied with the outcome, although there are things which could have been better. But there’s always some scope of improvement, isn’t it?

PS: This was a part of my college assignment. Special thanks to my mentor Nikita Desai for her constant support and feedback!

Many thanks for reading till the end!