TRISHA
IYER
Scout 2024 Design Conference
Scout is a student-led design agency at Northeastern University, and they hold an annual design conference every year. This time, the theme was 'Collide.' It was essentially focusing on "challenging preconceived notions of what human-centered means and inviting you to embrace the unconventional connections/synergies that are shaping the future of design."
ROLE
Experience Designer
TEAM
Director - Adeline Park
TOOLS
Figma
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Indesign
WorldCAST
Notion
Powerpoint
Epilog Laser Cutter
Experience Designers: Ruchi Patel, Connie Lin, Dana Abdo, Karlee Malcolm
Graphic Designers: Livia Lemgruber, Annie Wolfond, Jamie Tishkoff, Nicole Miller
Operations Coordinators: Shadeh Jaberi, Hannah Mok
Marketers: Emma Chichester, Kavya Bansal, Zainab Hussain, Peyton Stein, Juliana Gannon, Annabelle Chan
Engineers: Rei Masuya, Tracy Huang, Annika Chang, Rachel Ma
Themes
Adeline Park, the conference director, crafted three themes for the conference.
Collide with Impact
How might we embrace the collision of differences to enact a shift in mindset?
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We will break boundaries to engage in more-than-human design. We call for wild experimentation and the adoption of diverse perspectives to advance unity and inclusion.
Collide with Care
How might we design to shape our collective resilience?
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We will explore the role of designers as mediators who activate local wisdom and individual ingenuity. We call for design that unlocks hidden knowledge and ushers breakthroughs for our collective resilience.
Collide Unexpectedly
How might we leverage unconventional and emergent technologies to transcend our limitations?
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We will challenge assumptions about the role of technology in design and advocate for equitable design practices in the development of emerging technologies. We explore how the coalescence of design and technology can pave new opportunities to enact change.
Marketing Campaign
The entire team helped ideate for a multi-platform campaign which leveraged social media posts, process reels, physical posters, and large advertising boards.
Conference Photos
This conference itself had speakers, workshops, student presentations, installations, a gameshow, and lunch provided. Here are some photographs of the overall experience.
Intro to Augmented Reality Workshop Planning
My main job was to create a workshop for the conference, and I drew on my experience with immersive media.
I initially believed there was a high barrier of entry to the immersive media and extended reality world. Then, I took a course called Intro to Immersive Media, and I realized that it’s actually easy to get started because there are many free resources. However, I learned that many students have similar misconceptions, and they don’t know how to get started. So, I pitched the idea of having an introductory augmented reality workshop for the 'Collide Unexpectedly' Track. Essentially, the workshop focused on lowering the barrier of entry to emergent technologies. The final result also allowed people to be creative in colliding reality with fiction.
My Role
My role was to design and lead the workshop. The experience design team helped me with ideation and execution on the conference day, but they had other projects as well. So, my job was to source the required technology, create the workshop instructional flow, and make any printed collateral needed. I also had to lead the workshop on the conference day.
AR Technology Issues
I had to decide the best augmented reality software for the 1 hour workshop time frame. First I experimented with Snapchat Lens Studio and Instagram Meta Spark for creating facial filters.
Here's one of my experimentation filters to see how easy the process might be. However, I quickly realized that there were problems:
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1) After user testing, I realized that the interfaces are pretty difficult to understand in a limited time. Essentially, only those with prior 3d modeling experience understood everything.
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2) For the conference, I had to work with the IT department to borrow laptops, and I couldn't download any external software on those laptops.
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3) It was nearly impossible to work with a trackpad in these softwares. However, the IT department couldn't supply me with mice.
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So, I had to figure out an alternative.
Example Experiences
I ultimately ended up going with IBM's WorldCAST, which is a WebAR platform that's much simpler to use. It does have less functionality, but it was perfect for an intro workshop. However, WorldCAST didn't support filters, so I switched the workshop to marker-based AR (essentially augmented reality elements layered on top of images in this case). Here are some example experiences that I made for the workshop.
Nike
I enhanced a Nike poster by adding a video and a 3d model of the product. Essentially, this works by scanning a QR code. Then, a viewer would line up their mobile phone over the original poster, and the augmented reality elements would appear. Scan the QR code to try this yourself!
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Original
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AR Experience
Cityscape
I added fantasy elements to a cityscape. Again, feel free to try this out yourself!
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Original
AR Experience
Instructional Flow & Print-Out Instructions
I wanted to follow the 'Collide Unexpectedly' theme by focusing on collisions across digital and physical spaces as well as fiction and reality. So, this was the task I came up with:
This page is part of a set of print-out instructions that worked in-tandem with a presentation and a video demo. It follows the brand guidelines set by the graphic design team, and I wrote the content and designed the packet. You can see the full set of instructions here.
Since there were a limited number of computers, people had to work in groups. So, I suggested assigning roles to help the ideation and creation process run smoothly. I also gave resources and guides to operate WorldCAST. Again, the full set of instructions is here.
Presentation
The presentation was very similar to the print-out instructions. Essentially, the print-out instructions were meant to help people understand and follow along with the presentation. Below are a few slides from the presentation, and you can see the whole thing here. Because this is PDF version of the presentation, there is no live video demo. However, that was also included to help people understand WorldCAST and how to operate it.
Example AR Packet
I created a packet to help people easily try and experience marker-based AR. I wanted to give them examples so that they had an idea of what to try. This packet uses the example AR experiences shown above. You can see the full packet here.
Markers
With marker-based AR, a marker can only correspond to one experience. So, since there were 6 groups, I had to find 6 different images to serve as markers. These were the physical images used to build the AR experiences on top.
Print-Out Asset Packet
Because there was only one laptop per group, I decided to create a print-out asset packet so that people could help plan the experience on paper. They were provided scissors so that they could cut out the assets and arrange them on the planning page. You can view the full asset packet here.
Table Tents
These were designed to indicate group number.
Intro to Augmented Reality Workshop on the Conference Day
Setup
The desks were set up for groups of 4, and most of the materials were placed on the desks. The photographs used as markers were placed on the wall behind the desks. At the end of the workshop, I wanted everyone to look at each other's work. So, placing the markers on the wall made the viewing experience be like an art gallery.
Workshop
These are some photographs taken during the workshop. There was a large screen that I used to present.
Results
People created AR experiences! They were pretty simple, but the workshop was mostly about exploring AR and opening the pathway to immersive media, so it wasn't meant to be complex.
This team added an animated model and sound, so try it out for yourself!
Collisions Installation
I helped with the ideation for an installation. The final iteration ended up being a tree-like structure where people could draw their faces on pieces of acrylic and hang it on the tree. There were design and development categories on the tree, and people were asked to hang their drawing under the category that they resonated with the most. This was a way for the conference attendees to build something collectively and create an art piece as a community.
Decorations
The conference had a strong brand identity constructed by the graphic design team. Based off of that, the experience design team and I created decorations for the conference.
Main Area
There was main area where people could eat, socialize, view posters of student projects, and get raffle tickets for the prize baskets. The experience design team and I planned the decorations to make the brand identity and theming stand out.
Collide Sign
The main theme is 'Collide,' so we added huge balloon letters.
Table Toppers
There were cocktail tables that we added decorations to. This is a Scout Conference, so we added Scout balloons. We also added a QR code to the website and confetti with the three main brand colors.
Hanging Lanterns
The main colors are blue, red, and yellow. Also, one of the main brand shapes is a circle, so we hung spherical lanterns off the stairway railing.
Balloon Arch
There was a balloon arch at the front for check-in. This was meant to draw attention to the check-in area, and the balloons were the three main brand colors.
Collide Sign
We created physical 'Collide' sign by laser cutting wood. Then, we spray painted the colors and glued it together. We had to modify the 'Collide' logo so that the sign could stand on it's own.
Merch
The conference had a strong brand identity constructed by the graphic design team. Based off of that, the experience design team and I created or acquired merch for the conference.
Stickers
These are stickers based off of the 'Collide' logo, brand colors, and brand shapes.
Collide Keychain
This is a keychain made of laser-cut acrylic pieces that are stuck together.
Notebook
This notebook was for taking notes during workshops or speaker events. It has the 'Collide' logo embossed on the bottom right.
M&M's
These are custom M&M's with the brand colors and logos.
