Traces
An Immersive Story
Untold Stories
Traces is an immersive virtual reality experience designed to evoke empathy --To help immigrants feel less alone while giving locals compassion for the immigrant experience. It was created for the "Future Constructors" Track at MIT Reality Hack, winning two honorable mentions at the 2024 Hackathon. It responds to three UN Development Goals out of the 17: Good Health and Wellbeing, Reduced Inequalities, and Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.
In Traces, you become a young child who has just moved to the US and move through the emotional moments of your new life. Some folks bully you, others help you, and some are just like you. As you experience each memory, objects of emotional significance stick to your body and become part of your virtual representation. Your task is to navigate this emotional journey in the shoes of an immigrant, carrying your objects on your body as you become heavier and heavier.
Research & Ideation
80% of our team were immigrants - So we combined our stories to create a metaphorical memory box where you can immerse yourself in our experiences, emotions, and journeys of moving far away from home.
45 million people in the United States today are immigrants.1/4 of immigrants face anxiety, depression, and chronic stress. In the next decade, 54 million more people are expected to be displaced and will have to integrate into new cultures and societies.
How might we support people lıke us?
Role: UI and UX design, project management, prototyping, QA testing, and presentation
Hardware: Meta Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro (Also available on desktop, mobile, and any XR headset)
Software: Aframe, Blender, Figma, ShapesXR, Bezi, Photoshop, Meshy
Audience: MIT Reality Hack Judges, Final Judges, and Participants (Currently working to expand the audience)
Time Frame: January 26-31 2024
Team: Tavius Koktavy (Developer), Wyatt Roy (Director), Jia/Sharon Chen (Audio & Asset Design), Vien Nguyen (Art Director)
In the design process, I was in charge of character design, UI/UX, and 3D mockups of the scenes using ShapesXR. My role was to make sure the team stayed organized, creating a shared document and editing it to make sure everybody was on the same page. I also led the creation of the presentation and led the project demonstrations. I also helped out in finding audio, 3D assets, and minor 3D modeling tasks.
Design Process
Scene Mockups
Learnings
We all discovered that our experiences as immigrants were more universal than we had realized and that the dialogue we started can be very impactful.
An important lesson regarding the process was role definition. In the 2.5 days we had to create the project, trusting each other's abilities was the only way to finish the project on time. So, after trying to make every decision together and struggling for the first day, we decided to delegate responsibilities. With significant skill overlap among the four designers in our team, each of us took responsibility for a specific area based on our interests and expertise, and so the process flowed.
Next Steps
The experience can be accessed at Traces.site from all XR headsets. We are refining the user flow and story in 2025, as well as the onboarding flow for new VR users.
Our goal is to reach a wider audience by attending festivals, reaching local schools in the US, and starting a dialogue about belonging within immigrant communities.
We believe this story can be a powerful conversation starter and perspective changer for a wide range of audiences and would love to translate it and add accessibility features as well.
Please get in touch with us through the contact form on this website if you are interested in supporting this project and helping us share it with more people.
About MIT Reality Hack
MIT Reality Hack is an international and well-renowned 4-day hackathon where extended reality designers, developers, and enthusiasts come together to learn, build, and connect within the span of 50 hours. In 2024, our team met under the umbrella of "Future Constructors", which addressed social, environmental, and economic challenges across the globe.
