DrawAR
Imagine…
In cities, you often see streets filled with art–from graffiti to detailed murals. As you sit on a bus stop near a blank wall, you wonder what it would be like to draw on it with your friends.
Initial Research
To begin our project, we used Google Scholar to research academic literature that provides insights into the social computing landscape. Various research papers provide essential insights for developing our concept idea. Our key takeaways are the following:
Allowing asynchronous and flexible collaboration, making the platform accessible to artists and non-artists alike (Bauters and Tokranova, 2022).
Integrating social/collaborative features to build a supportive community that connects users with each other and their local environments (Bulbitz et al., 2019).
Incorporating accessible and simple design elements to encourage participation and more engagement.
Using content moderation/regulation to maintain a safe and positive user environment (Gui and Kou, 2023).
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3569219.3569367
https:/www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/705023
https:/dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3563657.3595960
Competitive Analysis
Existing competitors (and inspirers) found during our research phase.
By implementing the collaborative and moderation features that our competitors lack,
we aim to make DrawAR a more novel experience.
Social Opportunity
Through literature review and competitive analyses, we've identified current issues within collaborative drawing platforms.
Making Public Art Accessible
What Current
Platforms Lack
Competitors include Magma, Miro, Spraypaint (on Roblox). Based on our research, we found they lack:
Proper moderation.
Doesn’t foster interaction between users.
Lack situatedness (using features of real world environment to bring users together).
Our Solution
Implement collaborative features that our competitors lack.
Make it a more interactive experience to bring users together.
Leverage AR and digital platforms to support more concurrent users and make art more accessible to all.
Expressed positive interest toward collaborative drawing.
Expressed a preference towards social engagement features such as messaging and commenting.
Stated that inappropriate art was a top concern, followed by hate comments and negativity.
Preferred to recognized for their work by tying it to a user name.
User Flow and Wireframes
After conducting initial interviews to get a sense of what potential users may expect, we started drafting initial wireframes and a basic userflow. For a more detailed view on our userflow, you can view the Figma file here.
Prototyping Tools
Magma
Wizard Prototyping
We used Wizard of Oz prototyping (humans simulating computer activity) to allow us to create a social experience during our live demos.
Google Docs
For our second prototype session, we used Google Docs to provide the tutorial for Magma. We provided the link to the doc and included detailed videos + instructions on how to use Magma in it.
Prototyping Session 1
We used primarily used Magma to simulate a synchronous collaborative art environment. With Magma, we gave participants a blank canvas with a drawing prompt and gave them time to draw. Using the wizard model, we told participants to raise their hands when they finished drawing and conducted a content check. Finally, we moved their drawing over to the communal mural.
Prototyping Session 1 Results
Findings + Quotes + Evidence from Surveys
Engagement
65% of participants found the demo engaging–either rating it a 4 or 5.
Many participants felt neutral (35% of participants) on collaboration while others (30% of participants) did not feel connected at all.
40% of participants found Magma (our piggyback prototype) hard to use. The amount of tools and interface were overwhelming.
“ The biggest concern is definitely how everyone is drawing their own thing rather than drawing together. Also griefing is definitely a big concern when it comes to the activity”
“I struggled to add drawings as the mobile version kept constantly crashing and the canvas was too small to draw with fingers."
”I think the app was a little confusing to use, especially on mobile, plus it kept crashing probably do to the amount of people on it.”
Prototyping Session 2 Results
Findings + Quotes + Evidence from Surveys
Engagement
92% of participants found the demo engaging–either rating it a 4 or 5. This is a significant increase (27% more) compared to our first demo.
67% rated the ease of use of the prototype a 4 or higher, which is around a 42% increase
Mixed Collaboration
42% of participants did not collaborate with their group at all (1 group total). This suggests for further iteration on collaborative tasks.
"I liked the smaller more collaborative murals it definitely helped minimize the chaos. I also thought the commenting and chatting feature was useful."
"The tutorial was really helpful in helping me understand how to navigate the functions of your prototype software."
“I liked being able to work with a smaller team and have a sense of community and making sure our mural looked cute!”
Branding Guidelines
Our Final Interactive Prototype
Reflection
The paper we decided review as part of our reflection is. Let's get together: The formation and success of online creative collaborations. In Proceedings of the 2013 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
What did we Learn
Successful collaboration often arises from users with complementary skills rather than identical interests.
Suggestions from the Literature
The findings in this paper suggest how even a committed minority can trigger broader behavioral changes within a community. For DrawAR, encouraging initial small groups to create murals together could lead to larger community engagement as their projects gain visibility within the app and reach critical mass.
If we had more time...
Further iterations for our prototype would include:
More refined iterations of our live demos.
Conducting user testing and feedback for our hi-fi prototype.
Adjusting and adding more features in our prototype based on feedback.
Implement Recognition system
In the future, we would aim to implement a reward and recognition system (like badges or leaderboards) that could motivate users to engage more actively.
Enhancing Collaboration
We would want to enhance our chat feature to guarantee it cultivates a place that encourages community development. This includes:
Including gifs or stickers into the chatbot.
Developing a space for chat rooms to exist.
Creating reward programs for users with most murals.
