Beyond the Aroma
Tools used:
Figma, Miro, Justinmind,Canva,Pixil Art, Unity
In "Beyond the Aroma," experience life without smell firsthand! Equipped with a special scent-emitting controller, navigate environments, encounter flowers, food, and more. Feel the challenges and beauty of this unseen world, understanding anosmia's impact and appreciating the wonders of scent you may never realize. Playful and educational, it's a journey that opens your eyes (and nose) to a new perspective.
01. Project Overview
Role:
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Lead UX Designer
Team:
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2 UX Researchers
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2 Designers
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1 Developer
Timeline:
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Jan 2024 - Present
Project Type:
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Desktop game
Problem:
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Technical Hurdles: Building a reliable scent controller with diverse scents and intensities is complex and expensive.
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Accessibility Concerns: Ensuring the game is safe for players with allergies or sensitivities may require additional features or alternative experiences.
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Capturing Nuance: Anosmia is a varied experience, making it difficult to fully capture its complexities in a single game.
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Emotional Impact: The simulation of anosmia could be emotionally challenging for some players. We need to prioritize sensitivity and provide appropriate warnings.
Goal:
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Raise Awareness: Increase understanding of anosmia and its daily struggles.
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Build Empathy: Cultivate compassion for those living with anosmia.
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Educate & Challenge: Provide scientific info & challenge perspectives on the unseen world of scent.
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Make it Fun!: Create a memorable and engaging learning experience.
My Responsibilities:
​As Ui lead for beyond the aroma, I wore many hats: understanding user needs, crafting the app's flow, designing wireframes and prototypes, testing for usability, collaborating with developers, and ensuring a smooth launch. I basically guided beyond the aroma from ideation to reality, ensuring a user-friendly experience that empowers mental well-being.
02.Understanding the User
Pain Points:
Personas:
Our research led to the development of diverse personas representing various age groups and anosmia experiences. Each persona's unique challenges and motivations informed the game's design, ensuring a relatable and impactful experience for everyone.is to spread awareness about it and also to learn the pain points and challenges people phase so planned on creating this game
Empathy Map:
To Deepen our understanding of users,Identify and address pain points,Guide design decisions,Improve communication and collaboration and to Spark creative solutions Empathy map was created!
User Journey Map:
Journey Map revealed emotions, pain points, guiding empathy-driven design, helped Identify frustrations, refine experience for seamless navigation,Discover opportunities to motivate consistent app use and feature exploration.
03.Starting the Design
Narratives:
Anosmia Game: Stories to Experience
1. The Invisible Thread (Realistic, COVID-driven):
Chef Sara navigates anosmia after COVID, highlighting the emotional and practical impact.
Focuses on resilience, adaptation, and rediscovering joy in food.
2. The Fragile Spectrum (Diverse, Age-driven):
Three interconnected stories:
Teenager Elena faces social anxieties from anosmia.
Middle-aged David tackles workplace challenges.
Retired Rosa explores emotional complexity across generations.
3. The Faded Tapestry (Emotional, Relationship-focused):
Artist Maya and partner Liam grapple with anosmia's impact on intimacy.
Players experience communication struggles and the power of adaptation in relationships.
To know more about the narrative click here
User Flow:
Journey Map revealed emotions, pain points, guiding empathy-driven design, helped Identify frustrations, refine experience for seamless navigation,Discover opportunities to motivate consistent app use and feature exploration.
Controller:
A basic Prototype for an alternate controller was created which is now being used as a reference to create an alternate controller for emitting smells during the game!
Assests:
Smell the excitement! Our passion project is blossoming with stunning assets and an immersive playable prototype which we are currently using to playtest!
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To dive into vibrant character designs, explore breathtaking environments, and get a hands-on feel for the gameplay mechanics come back soon !