The Problem
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Imagine you are in this situation.
One of the most important elements of a festival is safety. As the most vital aspect of the equation, festivals need an organization of security, resource accessibility, and open space- providing a safe and secure environment. Attendees stress the importance of the abundance of food and water and how they need resources easy to find wherever they are at a festival. With that being said, many may not notice significant signage. So providing maps or wayfinding tools to help attendees throughout the festival grounds will be a great preventative measure for chaos and bring them a better experience.
Most of the events provide only scalable 2D maps to their attendees, which might not be helpful for some other attendees. They would often complain about how undetailed the maps provided to them and physical signages are nowhere to be seen in the venue. Wayfinding has become an increasingly important element of creating positive visitor and customer experiences. In a music festival scene, attendees need to know exactly where they’re going with no confusion. It is also essential for health and safety during an emergency situation; it should be easy for attendees to disperse safely and quickly, and it could be possible if they know their way.
But why Augmented Reality?
Navigation changes profoundly over the years. Augmented Reality allows for powerful and intuitive solutions in navigation. Mobile AR apps are on the rise. Statista predicts that 2.4 billion people will use mobile AR by 2023. That’s a projected 1100% leap over just eight years from 2015’s 200 million users. Nowadays, AR is intuitive and amusing and, perhaps most importantly, useful in our daily lives. Due to this great benefit, AR navigation will be a great help in music festival environments. It could be very challenging to see paths and signages in the venue when it's filled with thousands of attendees. By showing virtual guides in physical space through the view of a smartphone or headset, attendees can be directed point to point more naturally than by comparing a map to their immediate surroundings. A navigation paired with AR helps find better and shorter routes which makes it even more effiecient.
At least 43% of the human population occasionally use their hands to help distinguish right from left. Stress, being in a bad mood, or other negative factors can also impair the sense of direction. No wonder reading a map can turn into a daunting task sometimes. Location-based AR apps are convenient because it guides the user while looking at a real scene. As if someone’s walking alongside and telling exactly when to turn.
Process: Discovery
I have attended various music festivals with my friends and we always have problems navigating the venue. The event usually provides 2D maps but we don't find them useful especially when we were in an ocean of attendees.
Music festival organizers have apps for their events but it is mainly for the schedule and timings of the shows. I conducted a survey and interviews among 15 music festival goers to understand the pain points and goals of the users.
Below are the personas based on the surveys and interviews.
"I am dying of hunger and thirst! I don't know where's the nearest food truck.
I don't know how to get there with this crowd around me. I can't even see the pathway!
I was looking for a washroom for 30 minutes and waited in line for another 30 minutes. Also, I got separated from my group! I don't know where my friends are." -Missy, 29 from Montreal
Pain points:
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Always getting separated from her group
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Hard to find a friend in large crowds
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Can't make a phone call at the event because of the loud music
After mapping out the user journey, I started working on my low-fidelity prototypes and conducted heuristic and usability tests. Several elements were removed and most screens were revised based on user behavior testing and heuristic evaluation.
