Immersive Technology
How might AT&T create a meaningful video experience using VR/AR/360 video?
What was the project
AT&T was trying to explore the future of immersive technology with the capabilities of 5G. We wanted to explore how to best leverage Immersive Technologies (AR, VR, 360) for their entertainment platform. We knew technologies are still nascent and selling hardware wouldn’t be enough. We needed to find a way to create meaningful experiences to monetize content, licensing and advertising.
What we did
Our team led stakeholder workshops to understand why users want to engage with immersive experiences, then built frameworks to identify concepts for in-lab testing. We used a variety of concepts, prototypes, and existing experiences to understand expectations and the realities of the existing software and hardware. Post-testing, we developed a framework to highlight the opportunities for content. Based on these insights, we storyboarded concepts and prototyped an interactive solution to add to AT&T’s Product Roadmap for Immersive Technology.
In testing we discovered before and after content users would leave our entertainment platform to deepen their engagement with the content online or on social media. This framework helped focus concepts to make sure we were not pulling users away from their content, but helping instead to maintain and build engagement for both high fandom and low fandom users on our platforms.
Who was on the team
Research lead: Liz Jernegan
Strategy lead: Bella Chu
Prototyper/UX Designer: Lee Cody
Strategists: Justin Dionosio, Dimitri Alexander
Industrial Designer: Mike Kim
What I did
Led primary research and facilitation during in lab studies. Developed insights. Co-led stakeholder workshops and brainstorming sessions. Led framework and concept development. Presented findings to stakeholders and pitched to executives.
Based on the in-lab exploratory study many of our original assumptions were proven wrong. Most experiences created work for users and were far too long for maintained engagement. These findings served as best practices and metrics to adhere to during concept development.
What Methods we used
Stakeholder workshops to understand immersion drivers
Concept generation working session
6 in lab interviews with concepts and prototypes
Framework working session
Concept generation and prototype storyboarding
Prototype generation
360 video on 10’ Video Experience
The easiest to implement concept was using a directional pad to allow users to access 360 content within a 10’ experience. The content could be brief and stored like movie or episode extras.
360 video on Mobile
One of the elements users were excited about with immersive technology is the ability to share content with others. Within a mobile experience we can embed immersive content and shortcut sharing it.
360 Video On Headset
For a headset experience we wanted to limit navigation within the headset as well as duration. This remove fatigue from the hardware and confusion of navigation if content could be launched from a set-top box.
360 Video Fanview Concept
Our final concept was a paired device to the set-top box that was similar to a pair of binoculars. When raised to a user’s eyes, the 10-30 second immersive content would play, like an instant immersive replay. This leveraged limited content, as interactions within content would be rare and reserved for meaningful content.
What was the impact
The insights of this research helped focus AT&T Product Roadmap to differentiate from competitors and leverage the technical challenges within the space, and 5G capabilities. Additionally, immersive content could leverage downtime between episodes or seasons by releasing sneak peaks and teasers to maintain engagement with the content.
Fanview concept design and rendering with AT&T TV remote and set-top box.
