ARTiFact: VR Puzzle Learning for Art History
Role
UX/UI Designer, Interaction Designer
Timeline
4 weeks
ARTiFact is a VR-based educational experience that reimagines how students engage with art history. Through interactive puzzle mechanics, users assemble iconic sculptures while unlocking historical insights. The project was inspired by traditional art history classes and designed to transform passive learning into immersive, hands-on exploration.
Objective:
To create a meditative, seated VR puzzle experience where students learn about classical art through building and discovery. The goal was to foster emotional engagement and retention by blending historical storytelling with spatial interaction.
Art history education often feels passive and inaccessible. Students struggle to engage with dense text and abstract timelines.
ARTiFact addresses this by allowing users to physically build artworks in VR while receiving narrated context—turning art into something tactile, memorable, and emotionally resonant.
The Problem-
Reflection
Designing for older adults taught me that accessibility isn’t just about compliance—it’s about empathy, clarity, and trust. Many of the challenges uncovered in this project stemmed from small oversights in interface design that, when compounded, made users feel confused, excluded, or overwhelmed.
Through interviews, testing, and iteration, I realized that even minor UI adjustments—like changing button layout, increasing font size, or simplifying navigation—can have a major impact on usability for aging users. These design shifts didn’t just improve functionality; they also empowered users to feel more confident and connected in their daily communication.
If I were to continue this work, I’d explore:
Voice interaction options for users with limited dexterity or vision
Context-aware onboarding that adapts based on device settings
Error recovery patterns tailored for aging cognition, such as undo prompts or confirmations with haptic feedback
This project reaffirmed my belief that inclusive design is not a constraint—it’s a creative opportunity to build experiences that truly serve everyone.