Fungi Quest
01 Project Brief
Academic
UX & UI Design
Graphic Design
Designer
Meijun Wang
Dai Liang Qi Boris
Alicia Setiawan
Interface Design
User Experience Research
Canva
Placemaking: Oberon, NSW, Australia
A geo-location technology based mobile approach to elevate mushroom foraging into a rich, multi-dimensional adventure - more than just “picking mushrooms”.
The current case includes:
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Problem Statement
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Background Research
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Design Solution
- Prototype Testing
02Problem Statement
Design Challenge
Design a geo-location mobile experience that transforms mushroom foraging in Oberon, New South Wales, into an elevated, immersive, and engaging activity by:
- Enhancing Accessibility: Offering intuitive navigation to prime foraging spots using GPS and environmental overlays.
- Improving Safety: Providing real-time guidance on identifying edible mushrooms and avoiding poisonous ones.
- Fostering Community: Encouraging knowledge-sharing through community forums and live updates from fellow foragers.
- Enriching the Experience: Including educational content about Oberon’s unique mushroom ecology and foraging best practices.
- Reducing Planning Stress: Offering tools for itinerary customization, including weather updates, equipment checklists, and local insights.
Research
We conducted research to delve deeper into Oberon’s local foraging culture, understand what draws people to mushroom foraging and identifying Oberon’s unique environmental characteristics that enhance this activity.
Target Audience
Research focused on beginner or novice mushroom foragers in Australia.
Foraging Trends
- Gaining popularity among millennials and urban populations.
- COVID-19 lockdowns spurred interest in local, nature-based activities (Crosby and Vanni, 2021).
- Growing desire for sustainable, eco-friendly practices and urban foraging.
Demand Growth
- Nature-based activities increased by 47% (2014–2023).
- Some activities saw an 85% growth, with 50% more people engaging outdoors (Tourism Research Australia, 2024).
Learning Approach
- Multi-sensory, hands-on methods enhance connection and understanding of natural environments.
- Recommended by Nature Play SA and Australian Curriculum for effective skill-building.
Design Insights
- Geo-located experience tailored to the rising interest in nature-connected activities.
- Focus on providing guidance, fostering confidence, ensuring safety, and enhancing enjoyment for novice foragers.
Uncovering the Insights
- Identification Challenges: Misidentification remains a key concern, as consuming toxic species can lead to severe health risks. Popular mushroom identification apps, such as iNaturalist, often struggle with this accuracy due to incomplete training datasets tailored to specific environments (Hodgson et al., 2022).
- Resource Waste: Unforaged mushrooms are also often overlooked in abundant areas, leading to resource waste as they eventually rot (Choo Roo, 2022). This oversight represents a missed opportunity for sustainable harvesting and disrupts the natural cycle of these valuable resources.
03 Design Solution
Fun
The design solution includes three phase:
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Pre-foraging: Participants "discover" various mushroom types, learning identification skills in the pre-foraging phase in our learning hub.
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During-foraging: The foraging phase lets our audience "forage", applying gained knowledge from the learning hub.
- Post-foraging: Participants can use the mushrooms they foraged to create unique mushroom crafts.
Storyboard
Creator: Alicia Setiawan
Solution Significance
Geo-Location Integration:
- Developed a mushroom density probability map for Oberon using satellite data, precipitation levels, and pine tree density updates.
- Geo-location aids real-time navigation, guiding users to foraging spots, shuttle bus stops, and visitor centers.
Mobile Solution:
- A custom smartwatch features:
- “Mushroom radar” with growth probabilities.
- Visual mushroom identification models.
- Efficient navigation tools for forest exploration.
- Encourages active mobility, guiding participants to discover and engage with their surroundings.
User Experience Design:
- A seamless three-phase journey:
- Pre-Foraging: Build foundational knowledge.
- Foraging: Apply skills through hands-on exploration.
- Post-Foraging: Discover creative uses for mushrooms and reflect on the experience.
- The experience unifies geo-location and mobile tools, fostering meaningful placemaking and supporting learning through discovery and exploration.
Pre-Foraging Phase
- Introductory Video: Participants begin with watching a short video introducing mushroom foraging techniques and an overview of the experience.
- Multi-Sensory Interactive 3D Experience: After the video, participants enter a room filled with 3D mushroom models they can touch and smell, providing an immersive sensory experience. Models are grouped as edible (green color-coded section on the left-hand side) and inedible (red color-coded section on the right-hand side) for easy identification.
Design Tool: MinecraftDesigner: Dai Liang Qi Boris
Design Tool: CanvaDesigner: Alicia Setiawan
Locker rooms allow participants to store belongings for hands-free exploration.
Significance: Prevent Over-harvesting - By limiting participants to the provided basket, lockers also promote sustainable foraging by discouraging over-harvesting.
Design Tool: Minecraft
Designer: Dai Liang Qi Boris
Participants must purchase a ticket to join the event activity.
Tickets come in collectible versions (4 in total), including a special secret edition to attract re-visit.
Design Tool: Canva
Designer: Meijun Wang
During-Foraging Phase
The rentable smartwatch is a primary tool for the foraging experience, requiring a $200 deposit refunded upon return.
The smartwatch is custom-built for the event, so no downloadable app is available for personal smartwatch. It operates on a local network connection, enabling real-time data and offline maps for accurate mushroom density updates and reliable navigation, even without cellular signal—optimizing functionality specifically for this foraging experience. Groups also have the option to share one watch.
Design Tool: FigmaDesigner: Meijun Wang
Mushroom Density Radar Map
The smartwatch’s primary feature is a real-time mushroom density radar map, displayed as a color-coded overlay to indicate the likelihood of mushroom growth in different areas.
Identification Support
The smartwatch’s primary feature is a real-time mushroom density radar map, displayed as a color-coded overlay to indicate the likelihood of mushroom growth in different areas.
Navigation Aid
Guides users to the nearest shuttle bus stop for an easy return to the visitor center.
Basket
A fixed-size basket with 1 kg capacity promotes sustainable foraging by preventing over-harvesting while allowing spore dispersal.
First Aid Kit
Since personal bags aren’t allowed to avoid over-harvesting, we provide first-aid kits for participants to carry into the forest, ensuring preparedness in case of emergencies.
Foraging Kits
Essential tools (gloves, shovel, knife) support safe and hygienic harvesting. Kid-friendly kits are available for rent with safety-adapted tools like a blunt knife.
Post-Foraging Phase
For added safety, when participants return to the visitor center to drop off their foraging equipment, staff will inspect the gathered mushrooms to ensure they are safe for consumption.
At Fungi Craft, a designated area for post-foraging activities, participants can use their mushrooms to create unique crafts, such as spore prints or resin keychains displayed in Figure 1 and Figure 2. These activities offer a memorable keepsake from the foraging journey and provide alternative ways to use mushrooms, especially if some collected are inedible or poisonous.
Interface Demo
Click here to access the extra video demonstration for our Minecraft mushroom foraging world.
04Prototype Testing
Overview
Testing Methods:
- Interviews
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Observation
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User Interface Testing
- Think-aloud
Testing Components
Testing Goal
- Test comprehension of smartwatch interface colors corresponding to area color codes.
- Evaluate understanding of knowledge gained from the Learning Hub.
- Determine if multisensory 3D interaction aids knowledge retention.
- Test understanding of "spore printing" based on provided imagery.
Testing Questions
- Can the user easily understand and navigate the smartwatch interface to find key information (coloured area, radar design)?
- Can the users effectively follow the smartwatch's cues to accurately navigate and move toward the mushroom-rich (green) areas without confusion?
- Can the user effectively identify the correct direction to move based on the smartwatch's feedback?
- Does the user understand and interpret the colour-coded detection devices (green, yellow, red) to assess mushroom availability in different areas?
- Is the user able to utilize their experience from the learning hub to identify the edible mushrooms when foraging?
Testing Context
Iteration 1
“You are a first-time mushroom forager and right now, you are in the Oberon forest, about to do a mushroom foraging activity. I’m the staff of the forest visitor centre. You can choose to team up with others or do the event individually.
Please read the slides to get instructions and complete the required tasks.”
Iteration 2
“Right now, you are in a forest, and the forest is located in Oberon, in the Sydney area. You come here to do mushroom foraging. Is this your first time doing mushroom foraging? If yes, then our activity is perfect for you! As you know, although mushrooms are delicious, they can be dangerous as well. So before you start your foraging tour, you can visit our learning hub and learn mushroom-related knowledge in the learning hub. Please read through the tasks and complete them.”
“You finished our first learning stage! You are safe to do the forage.
This is the smartwatch you are going to use during the foraging experience.
Please return to the visitor centre when you finish the foraging and return the watch to us.”
“Congratulations! You finished your mushroom foraging tour. I’m gonna check the mushrooms you foraged with you. We also have a spore printing session. This is the painting you can create using your foraged mushrooms. Do you want to try?”
Improvement
Event Logistics
- Add ticketing center and brochure for a complete visitor overview.
- Provide lockers for participants’ bags and supply first aid kits for safety
Learning Hub EnhancementsImprove interactive model space and clarify technology used for environmental detection.
Foraging Kits
- Include gloves, shovel, and knife.
Smartwatch InterfaceUpdate interface for clarity.
Additional Features
- Add shuttle bus and mushroom information retrieval.
- Include a heatmap-style mushroom intensity map.
- Integrate a radar map scale.
- Clarify the use of satellite technology to detect forest environments to make mushroom density predictions.
Introduce resin keychains as the second option for event souvenirs.
Minecraft Overview
Click here to access the extra video demonstration for our Minecraft mushroom foraging world. Reference for the backrgound music (About Me, 2022).
05Personal Reflection
It was only after constructive challenges from the tutoring team and gathering a range of feedback that we identified these gaps. This prompted us to delve deeper into research and work toward a more user-centered understanding. Through this process of reflection and refinement, we gradually tailored our solution to better address the specific needs of our audience.
By centering our focus on the users, we developed an initial version that highlighted geo-location features and place-making. We then conducted several rounds of prototype testing, resolving various issues along the way. While the design process is ongoing, we’re proud of our current solution and the progress we’ve made in creating a well-researched, user-centered project.
My key contributions to the project included:
- Facilitated User Testing as Speaker
- Designed Watch Interface
- Created Ticket Design
- Developed Mobile Interface
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