VR Guides
I had so much fun working with an incredible VR entertainment start-up praised for its realistic and exciting gameplay. Gamers visit one of their many brick-and-mortar locations to “travel” to other dimensions and immerse themselves into fantastical worlds.
A combination of VR technology and stage design help create this orchestrated illusion. As visitors navigate through the stage in their VR headsets, many events happen in the real world to make the VR experience feel authentic.
The people who facilitate these experiences are called Guides. They make sure that every guest is safe, has fun, and feels the magic of VR. I designed the iPad app to support a new operations model that would improve the Guide’s workflow and customer experience.
Client VR Entertainment Company | Role Product Design, Creative Direction, UX, Research
Job Shadowing + Research
After job shadowing the Guides and technicians, I had a great understanding of the Guide/ Guest relationship and what was needed for improvement. The previous sequence of events felt very fragmented as the guests were shuffled from station to station with multiple Guides. Guests lacked a connection with the Guides who were playing the part of a host to a magical journey.
Each station was equipped with a device with one specific app. For example, the Guides who greeted the guests had an iPad app to create groups of players for the games. Guides who helped guests into their VR headsets were given an iPod Touch app to track and maintain the VR Gear.
A new way to guide
To improve the customer onboarding experience, we needed to assign a group of customers to a single Guide - similar to having a server take care of customers at a restaurant. This meant combining all the existing apps into one master app so the Guide could easily balance all their tasks. This gave the guests the level of customer care and elevated the storytelling aspect to the experience.
Testing new Tools
I planned user testing sessions where we identified various scenarios that could happen during a guest’s visit. Guides and technicians from around the country came to role played these customer scenarios using the app. We even tested hardware and equipment to determine the most ergonomic means of getting their jobs done.
