Lumeto
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Partnered with the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Ontario, Lumeto developed a series of 6 VR mental health crisis de-escalation simulations, based on a new paradigm of police training pioneered by professors at Laurier and the Toronto Metropolitan University. As product designer, I led the process of translating pre-existing curriculum into an immersive VR experience.
Key results
•
Successful zero-to-one product launch
•
Over 18k users acquired
•
$2M in revenue generated
•
-70% user error
•
+200% task success rate
Role & Timeline
•
Product designer, Researcher, Product Owner
•
October 2021 - April 2022
Methods
User Research / User
Journey Mapping /
Competitive Analysis /
Design Audit / Visual
design / Prototyping /
Testing
The Challenge
In October 2021, 3 key members of the Crisis Response product team left the company—the UX designer, senior technical artist, and product owner. Despite being a member of the Healthcare product team, I assumed additional responsibilities, eventually being promoted to the lead designer for this product domain. Over the course of 6 months, I led research initiatives, feature re-prioritization, and the re-design of critical surfaces within the simulation experience in order to facilitate a successful product launch. Our challenge was to enhance usability to drive learning efficacy for both Trainers and Learners.
Research
Live user testing at our studio
Usability test footage
37 hours
Participants
43 users
Research data collected and analyzed in dovetail
Insights
1
Low Findability
Trainers struggled to find responses within the UI, spending upwards of a few seconds before selecting a response to Learner actions.
2
High Cognitive Load
Trainers were unable to observe and evaluate learners while being required to control the person in crisis.
3
Missing functions
Trainers consistently lacked the actions or functionality required to maintain required interactions with the Learners.
4
Low immersion
Trainer error or delayed response time was causing significant friction within the experience, breaking immersion for the learner and no longer effectively simulating a high-stakes crisis situation.
4
Learner agency is critical
Due to the open-ended nature of live roleplay from the Learners in VR, our desktop Trainer interface needed to provide a diverse array of actions and responses for the Person in Crisis. Based on the results of user testing, the way scenario content had been planned was insufficient for creating the level of conversational nuance required for an effective training product.
It became evident to me that our scenario’s narrative framework needed to be re-designed to support a more non-linear experience.
Exploration
1
Analyzed actor-led training
Partnered with SMEs to gain a better understanding of the ways our Persons in Crisis should respond to Police actions.
2
Re-designed the User Journey and Dialogue Branching
Trainers consistently lacked the actions or functionality required to maintain required interactions with the Learners.
3
Validated with the team
Trainers consistently lacked the actions or functionality required to maintain required interactions with the Learners.
Final design
1
Dialogue sorted by context
Actions and dialogue were grouped according to their narrative context. The Trainer would select which contextual group to open from the main action list, and then be presented with all relevant actions or lines of dialogue related to that topic.
We observed that in the majority of cases the next required option would be within the same contextual group, drastically increasing findability and reducing trainer response time.
2
Unnecessary dialogue hidden
We observed a number of actions or responses across multiple scenarios that are only relevant at the beginning of the scenario, or at the very end. In order to reduce error and cognitive load, we created a further way to filter actions and responses according to narrative progression in the scenario.
3
Greater immersion with variable dialogue
In order to prevent the Person in Crisis from sounding robotic and breaking Learner Immersion, we enabled frequently used actions to trigger a series of distinct lines of dialogue with the same narrative implication. This allowed the Trainer to create a much richer and immersive conversation without adding additional buttons to manage.
4
Responses reflect escalation
Previously, dialogue options were locked behind levels of escalation. Testing revealed that Trainers were treating these escalation levels as containers for content, rather than narratively significant tools to respond to Learner actions.
To remedy this we exposed all possible actions to the Trainer at every level of escalation, with actions triggering a unique voice-line reflective of the character’s emotional state.
Post launch
1
Created a process for onboarding new Police Services
After the successful launch of our product, I leveraged insights gained from user research to develop a comprehensive onboarding process tailored for new Police Services. Training events were held at our studio for key members from each Police Service, familiarizing them with our product as well as the new training curriculum it was built upon. This resulted in a significantly faster onboarding process, allowing users to begin training with our product almost immerdiately.
Usability test footage
129 hours
Participants
112 users
2
Pilot Study on VR Training Efficacy
Working alongside Wilfred Laurier and Ryerson Universities, we conducted a pilot study to measure the efficacy of our simulation platform against traditional actor-led training.
Impact
1
18k+
Users
Upon launch InvolveXR was rolled out to active duty police officers across Ontario
2
2M+
Revenue
Successful launch of the product satisfied contractual requirements and secured additional funding for future development
3
-70%
User Error
Solving critical usability challenges drastically reduced user error and increased scenario success rate across the board
4
Version 1.0
Successfully launching the product on time cleared our first major milestone as a team and brought the product to market
Interested in working together? Lets chat!