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SolAr is an interactive Augmented Reality app that allows you to explore our solar system through your phone. It is optimized for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS devices. The app has 4.5 star review which is pretty good for an AR app to have. I wondered what could help make solAR better and this is what I found.

SolAR can improve the user experience by working on these small things. The fixed point when you go into AR mode is difficult to tweak once in the mode. I found myself having to exit and try again in order to get the position I wanted. When you attempt to rotate the planet it disappears or gets stuck. I didn’t see any of this in the reviews but I did se a few minor complaints about it only being available for iOS devices. Would be nice for non-iphone users to have the option. Second frequent complaint was the fact of paying $4.99 to get the full (you get 4 planets on the free version)

What is working for solAR? Solar has a very intuitive interface. In terms of figuring out the app, icons make the experience easier to follow. It is for ages 4+ which is a broad audience. Clean and simple wireframe very easy to the eye as someone with astigmatism it was pleasant for my eyes. Provides a 3D model and AR model for those who are not necessarily using it as an AR version the app does offer 3D which actually has no glitches. Gives fun facts about the planets you select under the binoculars icon. Very educational and easy to use.

After listening to our host speaker Joe Hallock, I thought about my main interest in design. Initially, I came into this program very interested in packaging design. I am aware that the packaging design class is taken the second year, I am looking forward to it! So far I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoy the Interactive course. Then I realized UX is essentially packaging design for digital products. So far I am still quite interested in packaging design but am trying to open my mind to everything I am learning to have broad knowledge of the possible ways this program can potentially branch out to.

From my understanding packaging design can range from mid-high density. If you are designing packaging for a food company then taking into consideration things like environment, nutrition labels, ingredient lists, functionality etc. If you are designing packaging for pharmaceuticals it is similar factors but with more extensive research involved. For a UX product design if it is for a social media the information density is about medium. In packaging design it really depends on the product.

In terms of audience Packaging design can be for a broad to specific audience. If your packaging is a standard product that is targeted for a wide range to be sold in chain stores like Target, Costco, or Walmart you have a broad audience. If your product is cosmetics for Sephora packaging targeted towards a specific demographic. Usually women form 18-55 years of age. All of these factors will determine where on the spectrum the position falls on. I would personally like to start with something mid density information and broad audience like a food packaging and make it sustainable and ethical. Until then I might find that I would like to go a different route.

For this mashup project I decided I wanted to focus on an object that inspires me. I chose a Clay Jaguar that I got a few years ago at a small town in Chiapas, Mexico. This represents how my experience at SCCA has been so far by portraying how the jaguar progressively gets a new pattern with each frame. I feel that way because every day I learn something new.

My mashup consists of a photo of the Clay Jaguar, A digital drawing, and an animation. I used Procreate for the digital drawing and animation. The animation is essentially a progression of the Jaguar’s body being filled with patterns. I then added a background color to each layer to create a strobe effect once animated. My biggest challenge was working with onion skin layers on procreate. The animation consists of 145 frames at 8 frames per second.

For my A_R card I chose to go with a space exploration theme. The scene starts with a rotating gold cone. When you tap the cone a scene appears. The scene is Jupiter scaled to move with a spaceship orbiting around it. The second part are rotating stars placed on each side of Jupiter. Above Jupiter and the Space ship is the word “GO”. Lastly above the letters is an astronaut orbiting the word “GO”.

One of the challenges I had was getting my triggers in the right order. I revisited the tutorial and looked at the behaviors to guide myself. Overall I found it to be fun!

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