All case studies

Mahal

Chaotic, crowded, colorful. “Mahal” is an augmented reality experience that simulates the energetic environment and close-knit community within Southeast Asian street markets. Users are transported to the hottest day of the summer, where they can interact with a vendor who is selling delicious Filipino desserts that can beat the tropical heat!

Project:

University of Maryland, Final Project

Role:

AR Development, UI.UX, 2D Animation

Date:

Spring 2023

Tools:

Unity, Figma, Maya, Adobe Aero, Photoshop

Team:

Mahum Qadeer, Cassiel Arcilla

Project Brief

The objective of this project is to immerse users in a captivating global digital environment centered around the universal cultural phenomenon of street markets. With a focus on the shared elements found in street markets worldwide, the experience highlights the core value of the art of negotiation.

Research

Palengke Market (Traditional Philipino Market)

“Place of exchange - of ideas, talent, and creativity as well as goods and services.”
President of the National Foundation of Market Vendors cooperates “stressed that the public market instilled a sense of community that was not evident in the commercialized shopping malls”
Atmosphere, cramped, lack ventilation, humid
Suki Culture: Market-exchange relationship allows forming bonds over transactions between suki (patrons_ and market vendor
Tawad System: Persistent bargaining where the customer and vendor agree on a specific price.

Bazaar (Pakistani Market)

“Concentrates on the dynamics of exchanges and negotiations between different groups and on what can be learned through the “voices” of people in the bazaar.”
Endless Bounty: The transformative benefits of public markets
- “Operate in pubic space, serve locally owned, and have public goals.”
  - “Focus on the public good is what makes successful market grow and connect urban/rural communities.”

Research

Palengke Market (Traditional Philipino Market)

“Place of exchange - of ideas, talent, and creativity as well as goods and services.”
President of the National Foundation of Market Vendors cooperates “stressed that the public market instilled a sense of community that was not evident in the commercialized shopping malls”
Atmosphere, cramped, lack ventilation, humid
Suki Culture: Market-exchange relationship allows forming bonds over transactions between suki (patrons_ and market vendor
Tawad System: Persistent bargaining where the customer and vendor agree on a specific price.

Bazaar (Pakistani Market)

We conducted user interviews, surveys, and analyzed in-app analytics to understand the pain points and user needs. We also studied competitor apps and industry trends to gather insights

Palengke Market (Traditional Philipino Market)

“Place of exchange - of ideas, talent, and creativity as well as goods and services.”
President of the National Foundation of Market Vendors cooperates “stressed that the public market instilled a sense of community that was not evident in the commercialized shopping malls”
Atmosphere, cramped, lack ventilation, humid
Suki Culture: Market-exchange relationship allows forming bonds over transactions between suki (patrons_ and market vendor
Tawad System: Persistent bargaining where the customer and vendor agree on a specific price.

Bazaar (Pakistani Market)

We conducted user interviews, surveys, and analyzed in-app analytics to understand the pain points and user needs. We also studied competitor apps and industry trends to gather insights

Metrics of Success

Educate users of South and Southeast Asian cultural parallels

Immerse users in lively environments, based on real places

Engage users in language-learning and facilitate tourism

Prototype

Key Findings:

Opted to create a real installation of a stall to have a more realistic presence
More focus on the character animation to help narrate the story

Low-Poly Prototype to test out the feel and set up the event system and interactions for the scene.

Key Findings:

Opted to create a real installation of a stall to have a more realistic presence
More focus on the character animation to help narrate the story

Challenges

Build Errors

Image Tracking functioned until the character crashed and stopped playing the animation

Event System ~ tricky to develop
Panels correctly following user flow map
Prefabs would break the entire setup

Animations

5 large exhibits, but lack of context with navigation causes people to skim/skip over significant artifacts.

Scriptwriting and Voice Acting

Many of the placards are written in English. This prevents those unable to speak English/those with limited schooling to miss out on key information.

Build Errors

Image Tracking functioned until the character crashed and stopped playing the animation

Event System ~ tricky to develop
Panels correctly following user flow map
Prefabs would break the entire setup

Animations

5 large exhibits, but lack of context with navigation causes people to skim/skip over significant artifacts.

Scriptwriting and Voice Acting

Many of the placards are written in English. This prevents those unable to speak English/those with limited schooling to miss out on key information.

Build Errors

Image Tracking functioned until the character crashed and stopped playing the animation

Event System ~ tricky to develop
Panels correctly following user flow map
Prefabs would break the entire setup

Animations

5 large exhibits, but lack of context with navigation causes people to skim/skip over significant artifacts.

Scriptwriting and Voice Acting

Many of the placards are written in English. This prevents those unable to speak English/those with limited schooling to miss out on key information.