Overview

A location-based AR experience for Sheridan College’s Trafalgar Campus, featuring a virtual vending machine to explore the complex choices students face in planning their careers. Using humor and familiar visuals, it highlights the links between education, career goals, and financial realities.

A location-based AR experience for Sheridan College’s Trafalgar Campus, featuring a virtual vending machine to explore the complex choices students face in planning their careers. Using humor and familiar visuals, it highlights the links between education, career goals, and financial realities.

What You Getting?

Sector

Digital Art, Media & Entertainment

Type

Augmented Reality, Digital Art

Year

2024

The Challenge

The primary challenge was creating a location-based AR experience that resonates with the audience. The goal was to craft a site-specific, engaging digital piece for past, present, and prospective Sheridan students. The central task was identifying a shared campus experience that could be translated into an interactive, meaningful story.

Creative Process

Inspired by my experiences as a student and the sociology of class inequality, I explored how background shapes life paths, showing that while choices influence the future, they are not always simple or free.

Color & Material
A low-contrast palette and matte materials were used to draw attention to the “products” inside the machine. By muting the overall design, the graduation hats stand out, clearly conveying the project’s core message.

Animation
Users can tap the screen to trigger a hat dropping, reinforcing the metaphor of students making choices about their future and making the experience more engaging and memorable.

Takeaways

This project taught me how a simple idea can be used to tell a meaningful story. I learned to use a familiar object—a vending machine—as a symbol for the complex decisions students face. I also gained experience with the technical side of augmented reality, from creating a 3D model to placing it in a real-world location. The biggest takeaway was seeing how the final AR experience encouraged people to stop and think about their own choices in a new perspective.

(Final Solution)

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You made it to the end —
Want to work with me?

You made it to the end —
Want to work with me?

📮💌 ☎️

📮💌 ☎️