During project 3 I designed “QuackTracks: Nature Walk” which illuminated how AR dynamically layers digital content onto the real world, such as envisioning a duck leading users along a park trail with interactive plant and structure information popping up. Exploring the underlying AR technologies revealed the critical role of mapping and anchoring digital elements within the physical environment and demanding careful consideration during the design process. Unique considerations in AR became apparent, particularly in accounting for user movement and ensuring digital elements remained contextually relevant as their viewpoint shifted. Integrating video in Figma with precisely timed pop-ups proved valuable for demonstrating how, for example, the tour might pause at a specific landmark, triggering an informative text bubble about the local statue. This project has distinct challenges and exciting possibilities for crafting intuitive and engaging augmented reality experiences. As a Digital Media Arts major, I found the video content creation aspect particularly enjoyable and straightforward. I relished the opportunity to capture the natural beauty of the park through my lens, gathering footage that would form the visual backbone of the “QuackTracks” experience. Seamlessly integrating this footage and editing it to align with the project’s flow came naturally to me. This hands-on element of filming and shaping the visual narrative proved to be a highlight of the design process. Getting the pop-up information to appear at just the right moment during the walk was a bit tricky. I also struggled with making them disappear easily, users had to physically click each one. While I eventually got the pop-ups looking decent in my prototype, I felt like this part of the app needed more work. I wanted them to feel more automatic and less like something the user had to actively manage. If I had more time, I would have focused on making those pop-ups work more smoothly and intuitively for a better user experience. Making interactive elements in AR turned out to be more challenging than I initially thought. To enhance my submission, I would prioritize refining the visual presentation by incorporating smoother video footage, which would contribute to a more polished and professional feel for the app. Addressing the current challenges with the pop-up information is also crucial, aiming for more precise timing and intuitive dismissal methods to improve the user experience. Furthermore, I envision adding more interactive features throughout the “QuackTracks” walk to further engage users and deepen their connection with the natural environment. These improvements would collectively elevate the overall quality and user-friendliness of the augmented reality experience. I will focus on improving my pop-ups for the next class. Working on “QuackTracks” taught me a lot that I can use later. I now better understand how AR puts digital things into the real world, which will be helpful for any AR or mixed reality projects I do. Learning to use video and timed pop-ups in Figma is also a skill I can use for making prototypes of different apps or websites. The trouble I had with the pop-ups showed me how important it is to test and get feedback to make things easy to use. Also, I enjoyed making the videos, and I can use those skills to make stories and keep people interested in other projects. This project helped me learn both technical things and how to think about what users need in new kinds of experiences. One thing that inspired me to make this app would be my nana. She loves to explore nature and be outdoors but as she gets older she finds it harder and harder to go on long walks. My app not only allows her to connect with nature outside but if she finds the strength to go for a walk she won’t get lost in the trails of the park. Overall I enjoyed putting together this project and can’t wait to use my skills on other projects

For project 2 we did web design. During this project, I gained valuable experience in coding and developing a website from scratch. I learned how to design and implement the various features necessary for a functional chess platform. Additionally, I worked on optimizing the site’s performance to ensure smooth interactions. This project also helped me sharpen my skills in web development technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The easiest part of this project for me was adding photos. For some reason, it just clicked— I understood which lines of code to use and where to place them to ensure the images appeared exactly where I wanted them on the page. I didn’t have to spend much time troubleshooting, and it was satisfying to see the visual elements come together. One part that I found particularly challenging in this project was understanding the rest of the coding and how all the different elements interacted with each other. As I worked on implementing more advanced features, I struggled with grasping how the different sections of code fit together to create a fully functional website. There were moments where I couldn’t quite figure out where certain pieces of code should go or how they would connect with other parts of the project. Despite these challenges, I learned that this process was an important part of the development experience. I had to be patient with myself, and I spent a lot of time researching, debugging, and experimenting to figure out the best way to organize the code and make everything work together. Eventually, I gained a understanding of how the components interacted, and while it was a tough learning curve, overcoming these challenges made me feel more accomplished. I think my submission could be improved by creating a completely different website—one that is more aligned with my personal interests. I feel that creating another website will offer a more entertaining and engaging experience for both myself and potential users. While the chess website was a valuable learning experience, I realized that building something that excites and motivates me could lead to a more enjoyable development process and a final product that I’m more passionate about. By selecting a new website concept that excites me, I feel I could focus on improving my skills in areas I feel less comfortable with or areas I haven’t explored yet. I can improve my assignment by the next class by making my code more organized and cleaner to look at. To address this, I’ll start by ensuring that I use proper indentation and spacing throughout the entire codebase, which will make it easier to navigate and understand. In future assignments or work scenarios, I can apply the knowledge I gained from this project in several ways. First, I now have a solid understanding of the basics of coding, which gives me the ability to create functional websites from scratch. This includes using HTML for the structure of the site, CSS to style it, and JavaScript to add interactivity. With these skills, I can build websites for personal use, whether it’s for a portfolio, blog, or hobby project, or for a company looking for a basic web presence. A video that inspired me to work hard on this project was one where someone explained coding concepts in-depth, breaking down complex ideas and making them more understandable. This was incredibly inspirational because the video helped me gain a deeper understanding of coding, especially the concepts I initially struggled with and gave me the confidence to move forward with my own project. Overall I enjoyed this project and cant wait to use my skills I learned in the future.

During Project 1, I learned how to put together my own app using Figma. The app we specifically learned how to make was a todo app. One thing we learned was how to create a master panel. The master panel allows us to create the base look for our project and make all future panels the exact same as the master. This panel was essential to our project because when I had to add small details at the end of my project I didn’t have to do it to every panel, I just had to add it to the master. Another thing we learned was the concept of Prototyping. Prototyping allowed us to make our app functional. You are able to link different buttons to panels to switch what panel you looking at. We also learned how to use most of the functions of Figma but master panel and prototyping stood out to me the most. I thought that the creations of buttons was super easy and super useful. At first I thought that making a button that would work with my app was going to be difficult but it was very easy. Something I thought was challenging was the prototyping. Trying to figure out how to connect everything to each other and being able to allow it to work with multiple panels was challenging, but after I practiced and got used to it I found it super useful and a great tool. I think my submission could be improved with more interactive parts and a few more decals to fill up blank space. If I were to make another app I would make it prettier to look at and more interactive. The way I could improve my assignment for next class is change the colors of my app to make it less bright. Some of the colors just didn’t look right to me and I would like to change it before next class. One way I can apply my knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios is be able to use all the functions in figma to make an app or other creative works for a job or just a future assignments. One specific video that helped me during this process would be the all the class recording that allowed me to go back and review all the topics to make my app perfect. Overall I really enjoyed creating my website and can’t wait to use the skills I learned in the future!

Bellow is a link to my Prototype:

https://www.figma.com/proto/1f149GZaaD9K9PvQ4XZAXM/SchurrgDMA217-project-1?node-id=6-196&p=f&t=hCuhMRJiuAerZGx8-1&scaling=scale-down&content-scaling=fixed&page-id=0%3A1&starting-point-node-id=6%3A196&show-proto-sidebar=1