CONTEXT
2022.3-2022.6
Team Project
MY ROLE
Research
Landscape Design
Interaction Design
TOOLS USED
Auto CAD
SketchUp
Figma
Adobe Photoshop
OVERVIEW
New South Village, a beautiful village in Shanghai metropolitan area, was economically prosperous over 3 years ago due to its abundant tourism resources, such as Peach Blossom Festival. However, in the recent 2 years, due to the change in the external social environment and the tourism development of surrounding villages, there were fewer and fewer tourists visiting the village, which has harmed the local economy significantly. As a result, the villagers came to us, hoping that we could come up with new ways to develop tourism resources and revitalize the local economy.
With this in mind, our team thoroughly investigated the existing resources in New South Village, the success cases of surrounding villages as well as user needs of external tourists. Eventually, based on the village’s natural and cultural resources, we successfully designed an immersive educational tour targeting children as an important tourism project for New South Village.
PROCESS
LOCATION
New South Village is located in the southwest corner of Xinchang Town, a large suburban area in the east of Shanghai metropolitan area. The village covers a total area of 1.53 square miles and includes 24 communities with about 3000 residents.
Research
RESOURCE ANALYSIS
There are rich natural and cultural resources in New South Village.
After investigating the existing resources in New South Village, our team found that there are significant development values in the local natural and cultural resources. In terms of its natural resources, New South Village occupies a large area of ecological forest and is densely covered with water networks. Furthermore, there exists a wide range of native plants and animals in the village. As for the cultural resources, New South Village and its surrounding areas have preserved a large number of historical heritages which date back from the Yuan Dynasty to the period of the Republic of China.
However, New South Village still failed to attract external tourists even with such abundant natural and cultural resources. Why? With this question in mind, we first researched the user need of tourists.
MARKET POSITIONING
There is still a great potential for rural tourism for children.
During the initial interview with the villagers, we learned that Shanghai residents are the primary source of tourists visiting New South Village. By investigating their needs in village traveling via literature review and survey, our team found that based on their age, those residents can be divided into 3 groups: children, the middle-aged, and seniors. Each group has its own distinct travel goals. In the meantime, after studying the surrounding villages, we also realized that for both the middle-aged and seniors, their travel needs were already met, while the group of children was largely ignored. Therefore, our team finally selected children as our primary target users in this project since we believe this market positioning can help New South Village achieve better long-term development in its tourism industry.
DESIGN CHALLENGE
How might we make natural and cultural resources in New South Village more attrative for children?
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
After identifying the target users and their user needs, I conducted a competitive analysis of Shanghai village tourism services in the market. I found many limitations in them, such as seasonal weather restrictions, physical location restrictions, less engaging activities, and high education threshold for children.
Consequently, as the team leader, I made a new proposal for the New South Village tourism service, which aims to address all those limitations in the existing market. We decided to create an immersive educational travel tour for children from the Shanghai area with both online and offline activities.
Design
DESIGN STRATEGY
Our goal is to create an online & offline multisensory educational experience, which help children in city connect with the village deeply.
Based on market positioning, we conducted a few brainstorming sessions and finalized that by integrating emerging technologies into traditional landscape design, our project could successfully solve the challenges above and make such an immersive travel tour come true.
SERVICE BLUEPRINT
After determining the design positioning, we designed the overall service blueprint according to the different stages. Introducing diverse interaction methods at different stages can help children have a better travel experience in the New South Village. Finally, we successfully carried out journeys into local nature and culture.
Outcome
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL NATURE
Let us explore the mysteries of nature in New South Village!
After investigating the native wildlife species in the village, we selected insects, a unique natural resource in New South Village, as a primary focus for our local nature journey design. Through literature review and online database query, we learned about the living habits and characteristics of the local insects as well as children's cognitive processes and challenges in understanding the knowledge of insects. Based on this information, we designed 5 touch points in the journey, including Discovery, Exploration, Distinguishment, Learning More, and Sharing. We anticipated that children would acquire a brand-new immersive experience when learning nature-related knowledge from such a journey.
In terms of traditional landscape design, we created the Insect Hotel and related plant designs based on the living habits of native insects and birds. This design not only established a better natural habitat for the local insects but also provided a more fantastic wildlife-watching opportunity for children.
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL NATURE - LANDSCAPE DESIGN
In this project, I personally made a further interaction design for the activity of Plant Identification. It would help children learn about how the local plants grow in different months of the year and how the local insects interact with the plants.
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL NATURE - INTERACTIVE DESIGN
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL CULTURE
Come on! Here is more knowledge behind the culture in New South Village.
In addition to the local nature journey design, we also created a local culture journey for children based on the cultural resources available in New South Village. We designed a set of touch points introducing the village’s salt culture, traditional architecture, tea culture, etc., in the culture journey by the local development chronologically. With the introduction of multiple interactive technologies, our design ensures that the local culture can be presented clearly, concisely, and engaging to children.
In terms of landscape design, we completed the design of the village-sounding walkway structures using local vernacular materials. At the same time, we renovated and reused the unused houses in Sinan Village. We designed the second floor as a display and sales space for Xinnan Village's cultural and creative products, while the second floor can provide accommodation space for villagers.
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL CULTURE - LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Regarding the interaction design, I designed the VR platform for children to help them learn about the cultural knowledge embedded in the new southern villagers' homes. Children can learn the stories behind the architectural details through interactive levels in an immersive experience.
A JOURNEY INTO THE LOCAL CULTURE - INTERACTIVE DESIGN
Reflection
DIFFICULTIES I MET
Considering that the site is the whole village, there are too many opportunity points, thus I felt it hard to select the right one and sort out the logic at first. Besides, it is also difficult to combine the landscape design with the interaction design. How do we can provide children an immersive experience was what we consider all the time, and I constantly think a lot of questions from children’s perspective, like is this experience interesting, is that display form clear enough and so forth.
THINGS I LEARNED
The introduction of UX design’s scope enabled me to make more detailed designs and made me to empathsize with children. Besides, this project trained my analytical ability because we had to choose one suitable entry point after making thorough analysis of users, other villages and resources in New South Village.