Recreate an Immersive Film Experience

Takes you on a journey to the filming locations of the most iconic movies and TV shows 🌎🎥 Get behind-the-scenes insights and explore the actual locations where your favorite scenes were shot.

Aeris_Cover
Timeframe
Winter 2023
10 Weeks
My Roles
Project Lead
Team Members
Josh Lu
Tools Used
Figma
Adobe Creative Tools
The Problem Space

Film tourists face challenges in identifying suitable destinations and accessing relevant information, which can be frustrating and time-consuming.

The Solution

Aeris streamlines the process for film tourists by translating digital film location information into physical spaces, reducing cognitive load and providing immersive experiences.

Vision Video

Market Research

International Tourist Arrival vs 2019 (thousand)
UNWTO (United Nation World Tourism Organization)

We realized after two years of Covid between 2019-2021. The number of international tourist arrival has been improving, only down 37% compared to pre covid period

Film Tourism Sector
(Future Market Insights)

The film tourism sector presents untapped profit potential due to its relative newness and low level of engagement among potential investors.

Travel Inspiration
(Expedia)

Streamed movies & TV shows are the top sources of travel inspiration at 40% outpacing the influence of social media at 31%.

In the US, 68% of travelers considered visiting a destination after seeing it in a show or movie on a streaming platform.

User Research

Verifying our opportunity area

Film and location information is important (100%)

Flexibility & Customization to cater to their needs (65%)

Trying out film related activities  (65%)

Spontaneous experience is important (33%)

Ease of Navigation are welcomed (33%)

Categorizing our potential users into 3 user archetypes:

Serendipitous

Happen to be in a destination portrayed in a film

Casual

Not specifically drawn to a film location but will participate in film tourism activity

Enthusiast

Actively seek out places that they have seen in a film

Current Day in Life

A film tourist's typical day may involve watching a show and researching potential locations using online databases, travel guides. These hurdles can lead to frustration, delays, and even trip cancellations to physical space.

How Might We (HMWs)

How might we...

Offer a more spontaneous process for “Film Tourist”?

How might we...

Reduce cognitive load on travelers?

How might we...

Create and enhance an immersive traveling experience?

Concept Exploration

Branding

Incorporates a round logo featuring a location icon

Latin word associated with travel or soaring

A welcoming, fun, and bubbly design

Mood Board

It exudes an adventurous spirit with its use of round fonts and purple hues that evoke wanderlust. It creates a sense of excitement and wonder, igniting the imagination and encouraging travelers to embark on a journey of discovery in search of unforgettable experiences.

Concept

Widget - Available on streaming platform

App - In-depth information, trip creation and recreate the movie experience

Customer Journey Map

Current
New

User Flow

Full
Simplified

Prototyping

Sketches
Low - Fi
Mid - Fi
High - Fi (Concept)

User Testing

Task Completion Journey

Access Aeris from streaming platform

Create a film tourism trip

Start the trip

Use the AR navigation feature

Use the recreate filter

End the trip

Give a review

Task Completion Chart

It shows whether the users are able to complete the task successfully. This help us to gain insights on which particular area are the users having trouble with.

User Feedback

Based on the valuable feedback received from our users, we have identified previously unforeseen issues with our design. As a result, we have made the decision to gather and analyze this feedback with the intention of revisiting and rethinking our design approach.

Back to the drawing board
Why are we building Aeris?
Insights

A total of 20 improvements were made following our user tests to follow the core model of Aeris.

Final Design

High - Fi (Finalized)
Typography
Color Palette
Components
Iconography

Mockups

Look Book
Poster

Takeaways

Challenges

As I look back on our journey, I can't help but realize how tough it was to bring this groundbreaking idea to life without any existing references. We were bursting with countless ideas and features, but we soon realized that we had a limited timeframe of just ten weeks. It became clear that we wouldn't have enough time to include and thoroughly test everything. So, we had to simplify our concept and focus on creating a minimum viable product (MVP). It was a process that required careful thinking about which features were truly essential for our users. We had to take a step back and critically assess the necessary information, sifting through the unnecessary details and zeroing in on what truly mattered. Despite the hurdles, this experience has been a valuable lesson in effective project management and decision-making under constraints.

Mistakes were made

One major mistake we made was initially designing everything in light mode. I realized that we did not consider our users' behaviors and the connectivity between other streaming apps. In movies, films, and TV shows, when you are watching, the negative space, which is usually in black, is used as a neutral or contrasting background to draw attention to the main subject, referred to as the positive space. It was such a simple thing, yet the impact it made on the user and during the design process was huge. Transitioning to dark mode with this project was a significant leap forward.

Thanks for visiting my canvas. 🫶

Let's start crafting! ✏️

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