Augmented Reality Applications: IKEA Place
Augmented reality (AR) is a real-time interactive experience which translates computer-generated imagery and experiences into the physical environment via visual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli. Its name refers to the augmented”state of one’s environment, which combines real-world objects with the virtual to enrich a user’s experiences for its intended purpose (What Is Augmented Reality, 2023). This report explores the emergence of AR in UX design, highlighting IKEA's 2017 app, IKEA Place, which allows users to virtually place 3D, true-to-scale furniture renders in homes, offices, and more.
AR Emergence and Advantages
Augmented reality can add value by reducing the time, complexity, and abstraction of an intended task. While its earliest experiences can be traced to the 1960s, AR systems entered the mainstream in the mid to late 2010s and continue to permeate new markets in the early 2020s (Höllerer & Feiner, 2004). Its presence has grown to become commonplace: market research projects the $14.84 billion industry to grow to $454.73 billion by 2023 (Augmented and Virtual Reality Market, 2019).
Usability heuristics can testify to the advantages of AR: these include minimizing user memory load and offering users real-time feedback. Critical information displayed in a user’s periphery through AR can remove cognitive barriers of working memory and attention-switching, minimizing user memory load and subsequent task duration and errors (Maddox, 2019). This feature also has the potential to improve user comprehension (Şimşek & Direkçi, 2022). Opportunities for real-time feedback leverages the advantage of AR as well. The conclusions drawn in the 2021 article, “Real-time feedback using extended reality: A current overview and further integration into sports,” can be extended to other task performances: “Real-time feedback using extended reality could enable... faster learning success, consequently, having a positive effect on... performance development” (Geisen & Klatt, 2021).
IKEA Place
IKEA Place is an augmented reality application that offers 3D, true-to-scale furniture renders to be virtually placed in any space, elevating a buyer’s input when decision-making. The app, launched in September 2017, is built upon Apple’s ARKit technology introduced earlier the same year. According to Michael Valdsgaard, former head of digital transformation at IKEA, “IKEA Place makes it easier to make buying decisions in your own place... [Augmented reality] will be a total game changer for retail in the same way as the internet. Only this time, much faster” (IKEA Launches IKEA Place, 2017). Additional usability features enhance the app, such as capturing the augmented setting to share via image or video.
Evaluation Methods
IKEA Place is an augmented reality application that displays 3D, true-to-scale furniture renders in any space. Upon downloading the application, you will begin to explore its features in order of the assigned tasks. You are encouraged to think out loud and work at a pace you find comfortable.
a. Open the application for the first time, reach the landing page and complete its wayfinding instructions to place a chair in your space.
b. Find “kids furniture.”
c. Place the “Friheten Sleeper Sofa” into your space. If needed, adjust so you can see it in its entirety.
To assess the usability of IKEA Place, three students participated in a user observation study and completed a user satisfaction questionnaire. The evaluations were completed in 10-minute back-to-back sessions in a control bedroom. Discussion was not permitted among participants until after the study and questionnaire were completed. None of the participants had previously engaged with the application, however its scope and evaluation procedures were introduced orally with the following script:
The questionnaire asked the following questions and offered space for optional elaboration.
Rate your satisfaction with the overall experience of IKEA Place. SCALE: Very unsatisfied; Moderately unsatisfied; Neutral; Moderately satisfied; Very satisfied
Rate your satisfaction with the furniture display in IKEA Place. Consider scale, rendering, color. SCALE: Very unsatisfied; Moderately unsatisfied; Neutral; Moderately satisfied; Very satisfied
Did you find IKEA Place easy to use? SCALE: Very difficult; Somewhat difficult; Neutral; Somewhat easy; Very easy
When deciding whether to purchase furniture from IKEA, would you use IKEA Place again? SCALE: Never; Not really; Maybe; Sometimes; Every time
Evaluation Results: User Observation Study
The user observation study obtained the following results: an average total task duration of 147.67 seconds (SD: 38.37 seconds) and an average total number of actions taken of 18.33 (SD: 4.04). Completion rate for all tasks was 100%.
Notable comments in Task 1 include “Lets... get... through... this... okay!” as the participant breezed through the preliminary user agreements and quickly reached the tutorial page. In Task 2, one participant said “This is the kids furniture you mean, right? Wait. Oh. It’s in the categories sections, isn’t it? Okay.” The confusion presented in this comment will be discussed in the Improvements to the Study section. After struggling to find the sofa in Task 3, one participant said, “Oops, I thought it was in kid’s furniture.” Another commented, “Woah, it’s huge,” in reference to its scale when placed.
One user’s journey through the app.
Evaluation Results: Questionnaire
Respondents reported an overall satisfactory experience with IKEA Place (1 neutral, 1 moderately satisfied, and 1 very satisfied). “It did exactly what it said it would do, how could I rate it badly?” one respondent wrote.
Satisfaction with furniture display was rated less unanimously, with one respondent unsatisfied with its functionality in already-furnished rooms (1 moderately unsatisfied, 2 moderately satisfied). Another respondent noted that the rendering of the virtual objects appears “obviously out of place,” suggesting improvements in lighting and texture.
Respondents all agreed the application was easy to use (1 moderately satisfied, 2 very satisfied). One respondent noted that, for someone familiar with mobile interfaces, even the wayfinding tutorial wasn’t necessary, however they didn’t mind it. Another respondent appreciated its conciseness.
When deciding whether to purchase furniture from IKEA, only one of the respondents were eager to continue using the application (1 not really, 1 maybe, 1 sometimes). The “not really” respondent wrote, “Seeing the object in real life in at the setting IKEAs already portray is more valuable than what this [app] provides.”
Conclusions
Augmented reality—despite its adoption by several markets (including but not limited to tourism, education, medical, and entertainment)—maintains its status as a “hot topic” in 2023 UX trends. This can be attributed to its continued advancement as applications broaden and virtual displays appear more legitimate (Future of Virtual Reality – Market Trends and Challenges, 2023).
Responses from the user observation study and questionnaire present a predictable obstacle to emerging AR applications: reluctance to change. As referenced in the previous section, participants regularly compared IKEA Place to the brick-and-mortar IKEAs they are familiar with, expressing preferences for the “real” thing. Research indicates that AR is still in its early adoption stage, in which only 13.5% of the population accept new technologies, excluding innovators (Watson, 2022). This aligns with the participants’ apprehension toward using IKEA Place.
As one participant noted, immersive experiences can be hindered from limitations in display quality. However, emerging technologies offer promising results for AR displays, such as Porotech’s DynamicPixelTuning which covers the entire color spectrum on a single microLED chip (Kamps, 2022). Lighting and brightness challenges also continue to be addressed (Google).
Improvements to the Study
Procedural concerns observed during the user observation study will be addressed here, including sample size and demographics, indication of task success, and task ordering. First, a sample of 20–30 users would have been more appropriate for this study, however research limitations permitted only three participants. These three participants were all college students familiar with mobile AR technology, potentially skewing the “ease of use” reported in the data. Second, indication of task success was not provided to users unless they explicitly asked. In Task 2, one participant manually searched for kid’s furniture as opposed to browsing the categories tab; their task was not considered complete until they fulfilled the latter action. This extended their task duration despite having achieved the task principle, causing disruption in the data. Third, the order of tasks provided to each participant may entail a "flow" in actions, though it did not. One participant assumed the Friheten Sleeper Sofa was in the kid’s category when it was not. Indications that each task was independent of one another may improve outcomes.
Works Cited
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