Community Sketchpad
Spring 2021; Revised Summer 2024; In-Progress
Columbia GSAPP
Team lead in research, goal setting, user researching, and concepting. Independently developed UX personas, wireframes, prototypes, and testing.
Goal
Define new ways to equitably engage the community of Jackson Heights, Queens that leverage both virtual technologies and physical context.
Community Research
To scope this project our team conducted on-site research in Jackson Heights to get a greater understanding of the real-life community conditions. We heavily documented the day-to-day life of various demographics, engaged with businesses and community boards, and conducted ad-hoc interviews on the street. Our key findings were:
Businesses
Culture
Real Estate
Informal Occupation
Digital
Accessibility
Target Audience
To best design for the community, personas were developed to capture the varied but interconnected needs of the community. They are based loosely on the research performed and capture the varied demographics of age, location, profession, and community leadership.
Caden
Target: Local Youth
As a social and creative kid
‍I want to find a networked community space to occupy
‍so that I can have agency to explore art, play, and socialize with my local and global peers.
More Info
Premilla
Target: Far-away Loved Ones
As a foreign loved one and prospective immigrant
‍I want to have access to my family’s neighborhood
‍so that I may share their culture and life while discovering my future community.
More Info
Rene
Target: Local Business Owners
As an entrepreneur
‍I want to provide a linguistically accessible experience
‍so that I can serve all members of my multilingual community and grow my business.
More Info
Alice
Target: Community Leaders
As a Community Outreach Facilitator
‍I want to use a new mode of programming
‍so that I can engage all members of Jackson Heights, regardless of age and language.
More Info
Challenges
Using research data and real-life needs of Jackson Heights community members, a focused set of challenges that the project should address were compiled. These were defined with potential deltas taking priority so the community could have the greatest benefit from a developed product.
Community Engagement
Spatial Disconnectedness
Language
Accessibility
Expropriation
Equitable Public Space
Concepting
From these challenges, the team collaborated on creating an array of ideas to leverage spatial tech to improve the community of Jackson Heights. Speculating approaches for how users could interact with each other and the community was the target of this exercise.
Culture
Virtual twin of neighborhood
Digitized sensory experiences
Remote Access to Community
User-generated content overlay
Accessibility
AR while IRL, VR while away
Screen portals between IRL street and digital street
Primary development for mobile
Phone/tablet Drawing Interface
Connect to existing digital street signage
Language
Embedded real-time speech translator
Iconography-first interface
Typed and recorded storytelling
Text translation
Community
Event Organization
Community contribution
Collaborative play
Occupation
Infinite instancing
Engagement with vacant storefronts
Reclaim retail space virtually
Guerrilla street occupation
Voter-based spatial occupancy
Defining the Product
Using these concepts, the user personas were returned to in the development of Goal Statements. From these, User Journeys were established to understand how key users may interface with the product. These journeys were then the foundation for the definition of Information Architecture and User Flow.
Caden
Goal Statement
Our community XR overlay
will let users create and occupy IRL space virtually
which will affect those that feel underrepresented in their community space
by giving them agency over the composition of
their neighborhood.

We will measure effectiveness by
‍counting user creations.
User Journey
Premilla
Goal Statement
Our community XR overlay
will let users remotely access the experience
Which will affect loved ones and curious
users abroad
by breaking the physical bounds of a
neighborhood community.

We will measure effectiveness by
‍counting active remote users.
User Journey
Rene
Goal Statement
Our community XR overlay
will let users instantly translate text
Which will affect community members and local business owners
by connecting them across language barriers IRL.

We will measure effectiveness by
‍counting the number of translations processed.
User Journey
Alice
Goal Statement
Our community XR overlay
will let users organize Mixed Reality events
Which will affect community members
by engaging them in the reclamation of space in
their community that is enticing to all demographics.

We will measure effectiveness by
‍counting events created.
User Journey
Information Architecture and User Flow
Wireframing
Using the created Information Architecture User Flows for reference, pages were iterated on in sketch and built in Low-Fidelity digitally. A mobile-first approach was used as it will be the most accessible access point to the majority of users.
Next Steps
1. Gather feedback on Lo-Fi Prototype
2. Prototype XR interaction in Unity
3. Create Hi-Fi mockups
4. Gather feedback on mockups
5. Create Hi-Fi Prototype
6. Test & revise
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