MUshroom meadows: foraging in virtual reality (vr)
PROJECT OVERVIEW
During the Spring 2023 quarter of my MS in Information Management program, I collaborated with three other graduate students to research, ideate, design, & prototype a fun, collaborative, multiplayer VR game that provides novice foragers with a space to test their skills as they race against the clock to discover enough morsels to make a delicious herbivore delicacy.
ROLE: Product Designer
DURATION: 3 Weeks
TOOLS: Figma, Blender, & Google Suite
MY CONTRIBUTION: conceptual research, visual mood board, sound palette, visual design system, i/o map, & logic flow
PROblem space
Mushroom foraging is the activity of searching for and collecting wild mushrooms from their natural habitats. Though foraging can be a rewarding recreational endeavor, beginners often face the following challenges:
Difficulties identifying edible species from poisonous counterparts.
An inability to access a foraging area where mushrooms flourish.
Lack of knowledge about how to collect mushrooms sustainably.
Design solution
Based on the analysis of the problem space, my teammates and I decided to create a fun, collaborative multiplayer VR game that’ll put your foraging skills to the test as you and your friends race the clock to find all the mushrooms to make a delicious herbivore delicacy. Check out the prototype / concept video below:
Mushroom Meadows Concept Video
Visual MoodBoard + Sound Palette
During the ideation process I created a mood board to visually capture the enchanting, adventurous, organic, enriching, and nurturing essence that the Mushroom Meadows VR game would embody. This collection of images, alongside a sound palette composed of Derek Fiechter’s Mushroom Fairies, also served as the inspiration for the product’s visual design system.
Visual Design System
COLOR PALETTE:
ICONOGRAPHY:
UI EXAMPLE:
TYPOGRAPHY:
EXAMPLE COMPONENTS:
Sound System BreakDown
USE CASES
I/O Map
LOgic flow: searching for a specific Mushroom
Reflection: WHAT I LEARNED
There are limitations to the experiences that can be emulated through VR. Though Mushroom Meadows draws heavy inspiration from real foraging practices, it cannot serve as a substitute that provides players with the comprehensive skills needed to confidently identify and safely consume mushrooms found in real life.
It is critical that all of the words in a voiceover are identical to the words presented in the interface. This ensures alignment in the information that is communicated to the user and also makes it easier to later translate and dub this content for a different market.
Sound and haptic vibration / feedback are elements that become difficult to integrate in a product after it has been released because of how it may impact engineering.
FUTUre work
In order to gauge how Mushroom Meadows might be received, I would conduct concept and usability tests with individuals who fit the intended user profile. Furthermore, as spreading knowledge of how and where to forage could potentially have long term ecological effects, I would conduct interviews with subject matter experts to gain a deeper understanding of foraging’s impact on the environment.