[S14] - Edüface

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  Exploring font alternatives

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  General Description of the project, highlighting the core values of the platform.

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  Introduction

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  UX embedded panel

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  Shape and color selection

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  General perspective of the logotype

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  Icon application

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  Exploring color alternatives

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  Draft sketch of what the user can do with the app

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  Logo development process

Inspiration

What if you could make studying more efficient? Our main unity developer Andrew attended a course on how our brain learns, and how the teacher's visual expression and body language influences the the student's ability to both better understand and remember the material. In addition, one distraction during lectures is the act of constantly having to alternate between looking at the teacher and at their notes.

This led to the idea of creating an educational app for people who benefit from note taking. With the hackaton offering the chance to use the Logitech Ink stylus, this seemed like an interesting opportunity to attempt to combine note-taking with XR, allowing the user to stay focused on the teacher.

What it does

Edüface, a combination of education and interface, is a Mixed Reality (MX) application that is designed to enhance note-taking during lectures. It does this by allowing students to visualise and expand their handwritten notes in 3D space. It aims to improve the users’ focus, enabling them to keep their attention on the lecture and the teacher while simultaneously interacting with and organising their notes.

It is intended to be used with the Logitech MX Ink stylus, allowing for the capture of handwriting, doodles, sketches, and spatial ideas in real-time. In addition, the platform is intended to integrate with infinite canvas applications such as Obsidian and Miro, and allow for import/export functionality of text and 3d assets.

Challenges we ran into

A core challenge in building the app has been the act of transfering writing made with the stylus onto a canvas floating in the air in front of the user. Solving it took most of the first day of the hackaton, with later days involving adding features, as well as making the experience more polished.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A great accomplishment during the hackaton has been our collective effort to stay in high spirits, in co-creation and connection! It has helped us better understand and solve issues during the hackaton with a positive attitude.

How we built it

The first step was to do brainstorming around the kind of features we wanted to see in an app like this. We all agreed that the most essential feature was the ability to look up while taking notes, not having to switch our attention between the lecture and what we are writing.

After this, the main challenge was to actually implement this mechanic into a unity project, and trying it out on a user that was not part of our own team.

In parallel to this we also developed the logo and the design of the user interface, as well as additional features we wanted to try and include during the hackaton. Finally, during the last day we needed to build a version with which we could demo our project, which involved cutting certain features and adding polish and stability to the core features that remained.

What we learned

Besides getting hands-on experience with new technology and new possibilities, we have also become more aware about the process of making notes. It has been very rewarding to discuss and reflect on the ergonomical and attention benefits of improving the user's posture, avoiding the constant shift in attention between looking at notes and looking at the teacher.

What's next for Edüface

We're excited to see the reactions to our project, and get our prototype onto the heads of testers so that we can get a better idea of what we could improve.

We think there is a big potential to go on with exploring and putting extra features into the application. For example, an instructor could bring 3D models into the Edüface learning space. This could be particularly useful for subjects such as engineering, architecture, physics, or anatomy.'

Moreover we think it there is great potential for Edüface to be a part of structured research around the study of learning, as well as the eregonomic, social and communicational aspects of the use of VR technology in public settings.

Built With

• c#
• figma
• logitech
• pearson
• photoshop
• plastic
• unity