• Lead Designer
• User Research
• Prototype Tester
• Information Architecture
• Wireframes
• User Interface Design
• Animations/Interactions
• Voice User Interface (VUI)

Liasing with Pepsico and Redpack (factory machine manufacturer) –allowed me to get information and research about training users. There where training documents and videos to accompany the machine which I researched in detail to fully understand the machine operation and training given.

The main routine training task was to help the machine operator when changing the packing film, so this part of the training was scrutinised to be fully understood. As the solution was a 3D environment interface a CAD model of the flexwrap was also requested to allow us to start understanding the film wrapping machine and how it functioned.

All safety procedure where noted, so that our mixed reality solution didn’t put anyone in danger as this was of paramount importance.

I conducted research into existing applications on the Microsoft Store to gauge an understanding of best practices of the official Microsoft applications that had been released. Studying and researching 3D spatial interfaces and how best to use certain elements was key to creating a fully functional and great user experience.  Being restricted to only one hand gesture of air tapping to navigate the applications interface would prove challenging!! The HoloLens is a prototype piece of hardware so there is very little guidance as to best practices, so we had to do multiple tests and research to find out what interface patterns and elements would suit our needs for the product and our end users.

To quickly concept ideas I sketched storyboards that would explain the key user interface elements and help understand the 3D interface logic that would be needed to implement the design.

After reviewing the rest of the team and the developers some tweaks and modifications where made, this formed a basic plan of how the initial prototype would be built.

Sketching the flows above helped me quickly understand the core functionality of the app, which was then easy to relay back to the development team for review.

After sketching out several ideas and prototyping some basic concepts it was decided we would use a spline based UI rail that anchored itself to the waist height of the user and around the Flexwrap machine, this meant the UI was never lost behind the machine and the UI elements would always face the user as they walked around the machine.

One of  the biggest constraint with the HoloLens is the primary navigation hand gesture called the ‘Air Tap’ is the only way a user can confidently navigate through the app.  This involves a cursor projecting from your line of gaze, this cursor acts like a mouse cursor then to activate a selection the ‘Air Tap’ gesture must be used.  There where experiments done with navigating the application with a timed gaze action (ie gazing at a button for a certain period of time) it would be activated. After user testing prototypes this proved awkward and cumbersome with unexpected selections.  The ‘Air Tap’ proved the safest way to for the user navigate around the application with confidence.

Once the sketches where reviewed it was a good stepping stone as to what interface elements and information would be needed to communicate to the user, for their ideal journey.

I then took the 3D CAD model and brainstormed how the user would interact with the training elements which would be overlaid onto the real world Flexwrap machine in Augmented Reality.

It was clear at this point the app was going to contain two main elements the first element was the Introduction and the second was the film changing processes for machine maintenance.

The Introduction is about viewing the Flexwrap model out of context and being able to position it anywhere in a 3D environment. Once the machine was anchored in the real world you would then be able to:

• Scale
• Rotate
• Move (Multi-Directional)

The user was then able to progress onto the next part of the app, which was to show the training steps for the film change.

The training animation was broken into six key steps so they user could easily return back to a point in the animation without having to go back to the start.

There is a pre-recorded voice over explaining the step by step process in a clear defined way, that is perfectly timed with the visual 3D animation. Doing this meant the Flexwrap model could be easily viewed without having the full size machine infront of the user.