Client
Year
2025.4-2025.9
Category
AR on-site walking experince
Live Project
my role
uX design, story, Unity Dev
Final work:
© 2025 Immersive Prototype LLC. All Rights Reserved.
100 Years of Silence is a location-based AR experience that shares the history of the Ute people—told directly through the voices and perspectives of tribal members.
With full community permission, we digitized Native artwork and crafts, restored archival photographs, and used 3D modeling to reconstruct key historical sites in Blanding, Utah. These narratives were further brought to life through voiceovers and interviews recorded with Ute community members.
Using iPad-based AR at the actual sites, visitors could walk the land and experience untold stories unfolding in real time. The result is a powerful fusion of XR technology and Indigenous storytelling—honoring memory, presence, and cultural resilience.
As the design lead, I defined the vision for the AR experience early on and guided the team in bringing that vision to life. I created initial storyboards and demo prototypes to align the team and clearly communicate our direction.
I applied a design thinking approach with rapid iteration. To move quickly from ambiguity to a clear storytelling vision, I adapted the double diamond method to better fit the project's needs and user goals.
Here is my workflow:
for this project, there are 2 key elements for exprince design:
How to create a story deeply rooted in the culture?
How to create a experince that tight with key locations
How to create a user-friendly and self guided expeirnce make sense to all ages.
A/B Testing: User Flow Options
We're testing two experience flow models:
A. Linear Narrative
Users follow a guided, scene-by-scene story (Scene 0 → 1 → 2 → 3 → 4), ideal for delivering a structured and emotional narrative.
B. Free Exploration
Users can explore scenes in any order, encouraging discovery and personal agency.
We decided to go with Flow A because it allows us to better control the timing and the stories we want to tell. However, we’re considering setting up Flow B as optional side quests for younger audiences as a bonus.
Key Design Decision I
How to create a story deeply rooted in the culture?
Through interviews, I discovered that the tribe continues a tradition of Third-Generation Family Households. Inspired by this, I proposed a narrative guided by two fictional characters—a grandmother and her grandchild—who accompany users through the experience. This structure mirrored their cultural values and made the story feel personal and grounded.
During community research, I also observed how strongly they expressed identity through crafts and art. To honor this, I digitized original pieces using photography and 3D scanning, transforming them into characters, location markers, and interactive objects within the experience.
This approach allowed us to preserve the integrity of the original art while embedding the narrative in a form that felt authentic, respectful, and connected to the community’s voice.
I used this art piece added fading enimation to tell the story of losing people in the story.
I animated some charactors to match the story voice over.
Additionally, I used AI to create new assets consistent with the original style and integrated them into the scene. the sunrise scene used Enviro 3 to render.
How to Communicate design with the team and stakeholders?
I used a variety of media and methods throughout the design process to align the team—both those familiar and unfamiliar with XR technology. The general workflow was:
Step 1: Storyboard sketches and user flow mapped to the site (Figma & drawing)
Step 2: Paper prototypes and motion tests (After Effects)
Step 3: Grey-box animations combined with location photos in Unity
Key Design Decision III
How to keep users engaged and safe throughout the experience?
Interaction with intuitiveness means everyone natually react to different object differently. sometimes, I have to design the interaction following that, or agianst that. All the call of actions lead to different emotions.
We designed a context-rich iPad experience that was both intuitive and accessible for the audience.
To guide movement between locations, I designed visual cues like bear paw prints and a pin icon to lead users to the next stop. I also introduced a red hawk character to serve as a visual guide throughout the experience.
To support safety and wayfinding, I created a printed and digital user manual that participants could refer to at any time. The screen automatically turned off when users approached street crossings, and we also coordinated to have the block closed off during the event to ensure a safe environment.
For engagement, I designed several interactive moments where users could interact with objects on the iPad by tapping, turning, and swiping, just like in iPad games.
Other Design Results
I applied multiple particle systems to visually reinforce key story moments and amplify emotional impact through motion and effects.
Unity Implementation
How to integrate digital content into key locations?
We designed a context-rich experience that immersed the audience at physical sites of critical historical moments. To ensure proper scale, rendering quality, and device performance, I optimized several implementation methods in Unity.
To begin, I created an experience map and marked the key locations for archival photographs and significant landmarks. From there, I designed 2D, 2.5D, and 3D assets to overlay the physical surroundings and place augmented content in a way that felt natural and informative within each environment.
I Imported local map data into Unity using the Cesium plugin to ensure spatial accuracy.
I Measured key physical locations for accurate 3D modeling overlays.
applied measurement on 3D model in Unity.
The experience was deeply moving and impactful. Many audience members were brought to tears and expressed strong emotional reactions throughout the journey.
Some of their comments included:
“This is very impactful.”
“I feel like 100 years + 1 day.”
“I felt so sad when I was in the fence.”
“I couldn’t step into the barbed-wire fence.”
Over 900 people experienced the installation during the two-day event, leaving with powerful emotions and meaningful takeaways. Afterward, many engaged in conversations with fellow audience members and organizational hosts, reflecting on what they had just seen. Some participants were so moved that they returned to go through the experience a second time.
