Uncertainty clusters at transitions
The hardest moments were not long corridors but entrances, level changes and junctions where several plausible paths appeared.
Spatial computing · HCI · 2024
XR / Spatial Studies
Exploring how digital guidance can belong to a physical place.
Start with
the context.
XR / Spatial Studies brings together experiments at the edge of physical and digital interaction. The central study is an augmented-reality wayfinding concept for the UCA Farnham campus, created to make unfamiliar routes easier to understand in place.
Campus navigation is not only a map problem. People make decisions while moving, under time pressure, surrounded by signs, architecture and other people. A useful AR layer had to support that reality without blocking the place it was meant to explain.
Look before
making.
I treated the campus as the interface. Looking at routes as a sequence of decision points—entrances, turns, thresholds and landmarks—made it possible to identify where digital guidance could help and where it would become unnecessary clutter.
The world is the primary display
AR guidance must leave space for real signs, people and hazards. Digital elements should point into the environment, not cover it.
Confidence matters between turns
People need reassurance that they are still on the right path, even when no immediate decision is required.
From signals
to a system.
The process moved from abstract questions to increasingly tangible decisions. Each round had one job: expose what was unclear before adding more fidelity.
- 01
Map decision points
Routes were reframed as moments of uncertainty, creating a practical map of where guidance was genuinely needed.
- 02
Storyboard in space
I sketched how prompts would enter, persist and disappear as someone approached a turn or landmark.
- 03
Walk the prototype
The concept was evaluated at walking pace to reveal issues that static screens hide: timing, occlusion and divided attention.
Decision log
Not just what changed—why it changed.
Anchor guidance to landmarks
Prompts reference stable features in the environment so instructions feel connected to what the person can already see.
Show less while moving
Instructions become simpler near decision points, prioritising direction over descriptive detail.
Confirm without interrupting
Lightweight reassurance between turns helps people continue confidently without repeatedly checking a map.
The idea,
made tangible.
The final concept uses a small vocabulary of spatial prompts: directional anchors at decision points, subtle route confirmation and clear arrival states. The system appears when the place becomes ambiguous and recedes when the route is obvious.
Landmark-led prompts
Instructions connect direction to visible architecture rather than relying only on abstract arrows.
Decision-point timing
Guidance arrives early enough to act on but not so early that it becomes detached from the location.
Route reassurance
Low-intensity confirmation reduces the urge to stop and reopen a conventional map.
Clear arrival
The experience ends decisively, helping users recognise the destination and return attention to the place.
What moved
forward.
The project transformed a broad idea—‘use AR for navigation’—into a contextual interaction model grounded in the rhythm and constraints of walking through a real campus.
- 01Produced a spatial prototype tied to a genuine UCA navigation context.
- 02Defined when AR guidance should appear, change and get out of the way.
- 03Built a foundation for future on-site evaluation with unfamiliar visitors.
Keep the lesson.
Lose the ego.
01Spatial interface design is choreography: timing and placement matter as much as the visual component itself.
02A successful AR layer should increase attention to the environment, not create a second world competing with it.
03Future work should test accessibility across mobility, vision and device-holding needs before increasing technical fidelity.
The best spatial interface knows when the place can speak for itself.