Using AR glasses to throw kindness
tokens in a pond

This experience has been imagined for a Kyoto Garden in London

1 month

Role: Product Designer

New dashboard

New
dashboard

New dashboard

New
dashboard

New dashboard

New
dashboard

Old
dashboard

New dashboard

New
dashboard

Old
dashboard

Roles & Responsibilities

User Research, Competitive Analysis, User Interviews, UX Design, Product thinking, Stretegic decision making, Prototying, Usability Testing

Overview

Concept AR glasses for Kyoto Graden in London to create experiences for the people to throw digital coin in the pond and interact with others digitally.

Tools Used

Figma

Throwing Kindness tokens in a pond

using 'EMA' AR glasses

using 'EMA' AR glasses

Context

Context

Enhancing the visitor experience using AR

To design a creative and tailored interactive digital technology that will enhance the experience of visitors to leave a digital trace or enable users to engage in an act of kindness in the space. This project is not about solving a problem but rather finding an opportunity.

Project timeline and design process

Project timeline and design process

Steps

Increased maintainance over head

Legacy tools require a lot of maintenance specially when its resides outside of core platform.

User Research

Selecting park

Preparing interview questions

Research on interactive technologies

Semi structured interviews

Empathy mapping

Persona

User Journey

Design statement (POV)

Brainwriting

Conceptual Design

  • Align every concept with the defined design goals.

  • Use the goals to shape upcoming user research.

  • Identify which features and content best suit the target audience.

  • Produce early conceptual representations using future user journeys and quick sketches.

Detailed Design & Evaluation

Prototyping
A/B testing
Success matrix

User research summary

After visiting the park on

Weekday

Users visit parks mainly for routine walks, peace, and a break from work or studies.

Experiences are often short and purpose-driven, with repeat visitors following familiar paths.

Common motivations include stress relief, contemplation, nature, and quiet time.

People avoid crowded spots and prefer consistent, predictable environments.

Acts of kindness appear occasionally but interactions tend to be minimal.

Weekends

Visitor profiles are more diverse: families, couples, tourists, elderly groups, hobbyists.

Visits are longer and more experience-focused such as:

  • exploring new areas

  • photography

  • relaxing near water

  • enjoying seasonal changes

  • walking dogs

  • social outings

Users look for variety, discovery, and emotional uplift, especially in parks like Kyoto Garden.

People expressed interest in unique attributes such as wildlife, architecture, and cultural themes.

Weekends show more social behavior, friendliness, and acts of kindness.

Empathy map

Persona

Maria Miller
Graphic designer at Yelp

—————————————————————————————————————————————————

—————————————

Bio

  • Hard-working graphic designer who visits the park to reset from work fatigue.

  • Prefers nature over screens and enjoys quiet walks and positive social interactions.

  • Visits roughly once a month and leaves encouraging notes for others.

Goals and Interests

  • Feel connected to nature

  • Take a break from a busy schedule

  • Light socialising

  • Observe seasonal changes

  • Feed or interact with animals

  • Visit Kyoto Garden

Motivations

  • Relaxation

  • Entertainment

  • Finding tranquility

  • Appreciating nature

  • Experiencing kindness

Pain Points

  • Confusing directional signs

  • Overcrowding, especially tourist-heavy spots

  • Concerns about close contact in crowded areas

Personality

  • Hard-working

  • Contemplative

  • Kind-hearted

  • Observant

Goal

To have a fulfilling experience at Kyoto garden

PoV - Point. ofView

Increased maintainance over head

Legacy tools require a lot of maintenance specially when its resides outside of core platform.

Users

People of all ages with busy schedule

Needs

  • To decompress from work

  • To relax and rejevunate themselves in fresh air outdoors

  • To appreciate nature and its seasonal changes

Insights

  • The user relaxes by appreciating natural scenery in the park.

  • Staying away from laptops and phones helps them disconnect from work.

  • They sometimes interact with people in the garden through short conversations or paper notes.

  • Most of the time they prefer to enjoy natural sounds on their own.

Conceptual Design

Option 1 - Livestream of sister Kyoto graden

Option 2 - AR glasses and kidness token ✅

Option 3 - Relaxation and Arigato positivity pod

Journey Map

For AR glasses named EMA

Detailed design & evaluation

Features for AR based smart glasses

Smartglasses - write message using gestures.

Different size smartglasses - for accessibility

Filtered / preselected words

Swipe upwards to throw “coin” - animation showing coin being thrown like pokeball in pokemon go

Haiku structure that let users select whether to make own message or make haiku

Give provision for assistive users by voice assistant

Flexibility to check others message (can zoom in and out)

Maybe change words every day

Swipe to scroll through messages

Steps of Interaction for Hi-fidelity designs

AR glasses named EMA

AR glasses can be redeemed from Kyoto garden vending machine

Post User testing and design validation

Final prototype

It matters because…

Part of 'aha' moment

Product stickiness

Integrations is cool

Learnings & Conclusions

Hi-fidelity prototypes were presented to over ~60 participants, using moderated and un-moderated testing including both new and existing customers.

Strengths

✅ During testing, one user said they would not use the EMA because they wanted to immerse themselves in nature. The design supports this by not disturbing users who prefer not to use the technology

✅ Users appreciated that the technology was not intrusive and felt connected to the environment.

✅ The design aligns with the Japanese theme of the garden, helping the tech blend into the natural space.

Setbacks

💡The anti theft feature (alarm plus credit card deposit) may not be fully effective and might need better solutions in future iterations.

💡 Limiting user vocabularies can reduce inappropriate messages but also restricts creativity.

💡 Some users felt the technology did not fit the space or preferred focusing on their own thoughts instead.

💡 There are safety concerns. Users may get distracted, increasing the risk of accidents in a small garden space. AR motion sickness is also possible.

Setbacks

💡Explore a design that generates a wider range of words from limited input using AI and NLP

💡 Build a better system that lets people see, share, and react to messages after they return home.

💡 Improve accessibility through visuals and audio upgrades.

Fin.

More detailed case study available on request.

Next Projects

Create a free website with Framer, the website builder loved by startups, designers and agencies.