During this project Google provided our team with access to Project Tango, an advanced augmented reality technology that is set to define the future of AR . Our task was to apply this technology to a problem that one of AKQA's clients was experiencing. We applied Project Tango to the home improvements market with the intent of selling-in the product to one of AKQA's named clients already in the software industry.
3. TEAM
Ben Wylie Becks Simpson Aaron Koshy
Current Electronics and Information
student at Imperial College
Current Business Administration
student at
University of Bath
Biomedical Engineer, current design
engineering student at Imperial
College
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4. Currently 47% of Britons plan to complete DIY home improvements within the next 12 months. Although home improvements can come in
various different forms, 65% of those planning to complete home improvements were intending to either paint, wallpaper or plaster walls. This
therefore makes a prime user journey to explore.
In the instance of re-painting a room one of the largest and most immediate problems customers run into is envisaging what their room will
look like upon completing their decoration. Customers currently head to a local department store and purchase a number of small sample
paint pots or pickup a color wheel. After making the purchase, which for high end paints can be considerably pricey, the customer will paint a
small area and then try to imagine what the room would look like on a larger scale.
Another major flaw in the existing user journey is the inability for individuals to gauge how long a job will take and the steps involved in
completing it. This therefore contributes significantly to the fact 38% of individuals who undertake a DIY project fail to complete it.
Furthermore, this lack of consumer knowledge regularly leads to customers purchasing an excessive amount of materials. This not only comes
at a financial cost to the consumer but also contributes to the 100million tonnes of construction waste produced in the UK each year.
A substantially growing trend within the consumer market is the increasing demand for environmentally green products. In fact, 72% of Britons
were willing to pay more for products that were environmentally sustainable. However, it is currently a tricky process to establish which brands
are truly providing eco-friendly products.
THE ISSUE
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5. WIDER JOURNEY
For more complex DIY projects, for example the completion
of an extension there are still an number of pain points for
consumers. Firstly, it is still hard to envisage what a room
would look like if specific walls were knocked down to open
up space or an extension was to be added on. This often leads
customers paying substantial sums to architects for drawings
and representations of their completed project.
Another major issue arises when projects that were initially
intended to be a simple DIY project grow and become
unmanageable without professional help. Often when builders
are employed to complete work there can be a considerable
amount of miscommunication; not only delaying completion
but also incurring unnecessary costs.
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7. Our digital resource
Help(s) renovators and builders
Who want to visualise, plan, optimise
By exploiting augmented reality
And suggesting the process and material requirements as well
as optimising and linking to builders and suppliers
VALUE
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9. VISUALISE
Dashboard Projects that you have started. Icons
in the bottom shows what task was
supposed to be undertaken
By clicking New Project, shows the option
to scan using Tango, as well adding what
tasks are required and style wanted.
These are used to curate the visualise
process.
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10. VISUALISE
Ability to visualise different
colours and choose paints
Remove walls and walk around
to see how the new layout would
look like. Can also visualise
extensions
Add information beacons for
builders
Visualise different kinds of
flooring
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12. PLANNING
Creates plan on what processes
needs to be undertaken first
Detailed process view with steps,
reducing jargon, as well showing
equipment needed, technique as
well as estimated time.
Detailed material view with
sustainable recommendations
Link with mybuilder api, allowing
jobs to be posted straight to the
website.
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13. OPTIMISE
Sharing process Uploading 3D scan to Autodesk
A360 account, allowing access
within any other Autodesk
application
Description of the ArchVIEW
optimisation option. Ability to
optimise: light, heating, and
ventilation
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14. OPTIMISE
Heating optimisation. User inputs
what kind of window, software
analyses and recommends
heating optimisation methods.
Light optimisation.
Scans room and user states
what kind of area it is
intended for.
Light optimisation.
Recommends and
visualises new lighting
option. Ability to provide
most efficient layout of
lights as well as for larger
projects, optimum window
placement by incluidng
ventilation optimisation.
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15. USER VALIDATION
Knowingtheexpecteddurationoftaskswas
a common desire among our interviewees.
Many had previously attempted home
improvements projects only to discover
they had greatly underestimated the
time investment required. This followed
a similar theme of wanting to know how
much paint a wall would require. A key pain
point that had left many frustrated was
either overspending or successive trips
to their local DIY store in relation to this.
People wanted room personalisation
during the onboarding process, while
they enjoyed the concept of being free to
explore different interior designs they did
still require further guidance. Could the
app take into account their lifestyle? The
tone they wanted for the room? Whether
they have young children or not? White
walls would not necessarily be ideal for
those with young children, rather they
would be suited to someone who wanted
a room that felt like a large open space
A major gain for users was that they
could experience their new home before
making it a reality. They liked the idea of
being able to physically walk through their
home and see the overlay of the designs,
and feel the flow between the rooms.
It would not be sufficient to redesign a
room in isolation but think about how it
fits into their home. When two people
are living in the same space they need
to agree on home projects, by having a
transparent way to share their hopes and
ideas, it aids in reaching compromises.
“How long is the painting
going to take?”
“How is this personal to
me?”
“I like the fact that I get to
have a feel of the space.”
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17. MARKET SIZE
£33 B
Total Renovation Market Size1
:
UK population 18 and over: 50,180,700
47 per cent will do DIY: 23,584,929
47 per cent plan to complete some form of home
improvements.
24 M
TOTAL RENOVATION MARKET IN
THE UK TOTAL AUDIENCE
Of the 24million who plan to complete DIY in the next 12 months:
- Around two thirds (65 per cent) are planning to paint, wallpaper or plaster
- One third (33 per cent) will look to improve their garden (e.g. landscaping, laying a new
lawn, adding fencing or decking)
- Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) will lay carpet or laminate/vinyl/wooden flooring
- 18 per cent will update or completely renew their bathroom
- 16 per cent will update or completely renew their kitchen
- 16 per cent will invest in self-assembly furniture
3.84 M
4.32 M
5.76 M
15.6 M
KITCHEN
BATHROOM
FLOORING
PAINTERS
please refer to Appendix 6 for further details
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18. LAUNCH STRATEGY
It would be mutually beneficial for Estate
Agents to promote Arch360. They can utilize
it to enable viewers to remotely narrow down
which homes they want to visit for further ex-
ploration. Furthermore, once in the homes,
viewers can use the app to virtually redecorate
the home pre-purchase, enabling them to see
the houses’ full potential. Then with them al-
ready familiar with the apps functionality they
could use it again for renovation post purchase.
This is a key market to capture, in England
homebuyers on average spend £10,000 doing
up their homes in the first year post purchase.
There are 679,000 owner-occupier moves
happening every year, putting the first-year
home makeover market worth at £6.8 billion.
We plan to display an exhibit at the Ide-
al Homes Show. It is the leading home in-
terest exhibition in the UK, in 2015 it re-
ceived 265,000 visitors over the 18 day
exhibition. Through this we could direct-
ly target an audience who are committed
to dedicating time and finances to home
improvement. Members of the audience
could try the app out for themselves dec-
orating and renovating a virtual house.
Arch360 will partner with DIY stores such as
HomeBase and Wickes, where in return for
direct access to the people frequenting their
stores we will promote their products in our
materials/equipment section of the app.
Estate Agents
Ideal Home Show
Advertise through
affiliate DIY partners
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19. THE FUTURE
Vision
The vision is for Arch360 to become
synonymous with home improvement. For
Arch360 to guide projects across the world
from design to completion, building more
beautiful, more environmentally friendly homes.
As Tango is increasingly integrated into
phones, everyone will have access to
their own portable 3D scanner capable of
generating and viewing ADFs. ADF will
become a new commonly used data type,
this will allow Arch360s continued expansion,
integration and use in multiple industries as
widespread communication becomes possible.
Arch360 can expand to form an online
platform, creating a community that connects
homeowners, designers and builders,
allowing them to communicate transparently
and effectively, sharing their expertise.
Feature Expansion
Being able to accurately walk through and
visualize spaces virtually will have many
uses, including filtering down the selection
of spaces without a physical visit being
required. For example, when deciding
if they want to undertake a construction
project, builders can receive 3D scans of the
prospective home to inform their decision.
Frictionless Landlord and Tennant
Communication
The continued rise of house prices has
presented a large barrier of entry to first time
home buyers, this has led to a dramatic rise in
renters over recent years. The number of rented
households doubled between 2001-2014 from
2.3 million to 5.4 million. This is predicted to rise
to 7.2 million by 2025, 25% of the UK households
in total, these will be most significantly
owned by the 20-39 bracket, ‘generation
rent’, more than half of whom that will rent.
A common pain point of renters is their need
to communicate with landlords, or in the
case of long term tenancy gain permission
to redecorate and personalize their space.
Arch360 can assist in this manner, creating
transparency between the parties involved.
It allows trustworthy comparison of the space
at the beginning and end of the tenancy, and
allow renters to quickly visualize their home
redesign plans to their landlords for approval.
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25. Source 2: nationwide.co.uk/about/media-centre-and-specialist-areas/me-
dia-centre/press-releases/archive/2014/4/01-april-homes-bloom
Total sample size was 2,128 adults, of which 987 plan to carry out DIY im-
provements in the next 12 months. Fieldwork was undertaken between
1W8th - 19th February 2014. The survey was carried out online. The figures
have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).
APPENDIX
6
Further information on
Market size
Source 1: barbour-abi.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Home-Improv-
ers-Report-March-2016.pdf
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