National World War I Memorial Visitor Guide
A visitor guide app that provides an enhanced on-site experience through the use of augmented reality.
Sector:
Government
Client:
U.S. World War One Centennial Commission
Role:
Lead UX/UI Designer
Background
The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission was created by an Act of Congress in 2013. Members of the Commission were appointed by the President, the leaders of the Senate, and the House of Representatives, as well as the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the National World War I Museum.
The Commission's mission involved the planning, development and execution of programs, projects and activities to commemorate the Centennial of World War One (WWI). Along with the centennial commemoration, the Commission was tasked to establish a National World War One Memorial in Washington DC, which opened to the public in April 2021.
My role as the UX/UI designer was to work with the CTO and the development team to build out an app that would serve as the on-site visitor guide for the memorial.
Purpose
Since visitors to various sites often have a brochure to orient and guide them through a space, the creative paradigm for the WWI Visitor Guide app was to take that concept digital and provide an enhanced experience for those who visit.
The app not only guides visitors around the memorial, but it also provides additional content and context through the use of text, photos, audio, video and augmented reality features.
At the start of the project, I was handed over some very rough wireframe concepts and a 15-page requirements document from the client to digest.
Discovery Process
Information Architecture
Given the app’s duel purpose to serve as both a navigational tool and an experience, we made the decision to not only use a map to direct the user around the memorial grounds, but to also use it to navigate to the content within the app.
User Flows
Understanding that we were building an app to navigate a space that has no specific sequential order for the visitor to follow meant that we had to have extremely flexible user flows.
AR Integration
With each augmented reality (AR) feature having its own set of parameters for scanning to detect surfaces and place objects, we had to develop the unique user on-boarding directions for each introduction of an AR feature.
Design
Launch
On April 16, 2021, the World War I Centennial Commission celebrated the Inaugural Raising of the Flag over the newly constructed National World War I Memorial site in Washington, DC.
The visitor guide app was also launched that day to coincide with the special event, and the public’s access to the memorial starting the following day.