daf·tar | \ ˈdəftə(r) \
1 a business office (Hindi)
2 office (Farsi)
3. a mobile application that allows users to create a portal to a virtual personalized space
Companies have moved towards “activity-based” work-stations, in which employees have no dedicated desks and must find new places to work each day from a variety of collaborative or “heads down” areas.
Studies have repeatedly proven that most workers are happier and more productive when they are able to personalize their spaces.
Our project, Daftar, seeks to answer how we might help create a sense of identity and belonging in the workplace as employees are finding themselves coping with these extremes.
We used the game engine Unity in combination with the 3D-augmented reality platform AR Foundation to create a mobile application that demonstrates a virtual space filled with users' mementos and personal objects. Through an iterative process of user research, ideations, prototyping, analysis, and revision, we created two unique and highly personalized augmented reality (AR) portals for Jason and Arielle.
Ultimately, we found that the portals can be effective mechanisms to share one’s personality and create social connectedness with colleagues. They can act as both a source of comfort to people wanting to surround themselves with personal objects when in an open workspace while also being an effective instrument to share one’s personality and socialize with colleagues when in isolation.
Jason is a professor at CSU East Bay, and father to adorable children as well as a multimedia, photographer, gamer, and travel enthusiast.
Watch a video of our process for creating Jason's room along with a full walkthrough of the virtual room in the Unity environment. Scroll down below and click through the Daftar onboarding menu to see the mobile experience.
Arielle is a Marketing Director for the commercial real estate firm, JLL. At the center of her life is her husband and puppy and she has an affinity for Disney, musicals, traveling, indoor plants, and light and airy mid-century modern spaces.
Watch a video of our process for creating Arielle's room along with a full walkthrough of the virtual room in the Unity environment. Scroll down below and click through the Daftar onboarding menu to see the mobile experience.
The Master of Arts (MA) in Multimedia with a Concentration in Interaction Design is a unique interdisciplinary program that focuses on creating interactive applications and objects as part of a designed user experience. This unique program provides artists studio and fabrication spaces, courses in emerging methods, contemporary art and theory, an engaged faculty and access to student research grants and mentorship.
