Minor Project

on
28/8/2022 - 11/12/2023
Week 1 - Week 16
Leong Jiahui/ 0353469
Minor Project / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media 

Project Brief

Instructions

WEEK 1 (28/8/2023)

During this introductory class, we were once again exposed to the design thinking process. The entire project flow worked very similarly to our SIP module. It was very interesting to be able to work with fellow peers from different backgrounds, allowing us to collaborate and contribute our knowledge from different fields to the project. 

The project we chose is one that is related to all our specialisations, related to avatar creation. I am positive that this project will be able to help me improve my skills from my specialisation and learn new ones from my peers and clients. 

WEEK 2 (28/8/2023)
During lecture, we talked about design thinking and how we can utilise it in not just our project but our daily lives. Real life examples were shown and discussed. One of my key take aways is ‘to understand a client, first we must think like a client’. This is where contextual research comes into play so we learn more about the client’s field & background, putting us in the same playground. 

The design thinking process proved to be critical during our first meeting with our client, Mr Fariz from the Experiential Design Team. After overcoming the initial shock of the huge gap between what was presented in the project brief and what was briefed by the client, we immediately put our heads together and comprimised a project where we could still be able to utilise and improve our skills in our respective specialistions. The client was also very helpful, and offered to guide us through the process and even invited us to their studio in the near future. Overall, I am very excited for what’s to come in this project and will do my best in it. 

This week, I am tasked to research Vtubers, Virtual celebrities and the queen Hatsune Miku herself. I had a lot of fun looking up these topics and am pleasantly surprised with how deep of a rabbit hole this is. 

Contextual Research:
Fig 1.1 Contextual research 

Feedback
  • Guidance can be provided when using Unreal Engine and Mocap by Mr Fariz
  • Mocap equipment can be used in EDT studio
  • Social media content suggestions are highly welcome
  • Viya is chosen as our project
  • Only facial expression has to be 3D modelled and animated, the head model file will be provided
  • New costume can be proposed and designed in Marvellous Designe
  • Background will be real-life locations
  • Body movement is done with Mocap and cleaned up afterwards 
  • No consultation. Meeting client on Zoom for project clarification.

WEEK 3 (11/9/2023)

This week, we consulted Mr Mike on our contextual research. We were given advice to consider market analysis published by experts on virtual influencers. It’s important to consider solutions that can lessen our workload but at the same time effectively produce results. It’s an important research technique to optimize the time spent on the task. 
We spent the class time trouble shooting how to use metahuman, and unfortunately even with 5 heads and a lot of googling, we are still unable to figure it out. Hence, we decided to redirect our focus by delegating the task of persona creation and software exploration to work more effectively.
Finally, after a long day of hard work, our absolute top dog Qiao Yin managed to find a solution to our metahuman disaster, and our motivations are back at an all time high. 

Now onto our Persona Task. We used the template from Xtensio and here's how it turned out. 

fig 3.1 Xtensio Persona building 
Feedback
  • Analyse existing experts reviews on virtual influencers
  • Do more in-depth research on 2 more virtual influencers
  • Try to avoid close up shots (eg:vtubers) as it involves a more complicated animation process. If we plan to propose it, we will have to figure out a solution for them
  • Tiktok dances are fine, can use rococo
  • Focus on things thta wolud cost the most to sell, divide the clothing from top to bottom, Viya is basically a walking billboard, discuss is it necessary to only focus on sneakers. Each piece of clothing has a big brand behind
  • Determine the common collaboration in Zepeto
  • Merge the 5 boards into one board, filter out unwanted info and only retain keypoints to show Mr Fariz our standard of understanding
  • Narrow down Viya's persona (Discuss with Mr Fariz)

WEEK 4 (18/9/2023)

This week, we experienced multiple hurdles. After compiling our personas, it was told that our personas can be more specific, and more relatable. We need to really dig into what andwho will appreciate and follow Viya, and potentially be a customer of the products she endorses. We have failed to consider what Viya could potentially bring to the table for her followers that other influencers may not be able to. There were also delays in terms of progress as our client has not promptly replied to our queries regarding Viya. While waiting for his clarification, we were advised to revise our personas and work on a better backstory before moving on to constructing our survey questions. We got right to work with our survey questions after, making the best of what we can do now. 

Feedback
  • Find 5 to 10 virtual influencers below 500k followers and analyse them according to the criteria researched (Find the biggest orange sticky note in Miro board)
  • Based on a x-y chart in the condition of 500k< followers range, find the parameter for measurements in each x-axis and y-axis, plot ViYA’s position
  • References can be taken from virtual influencers survey/ marketing reports to determine what type of influencer ViYA is. This is to categorise her
  • Compare ViYA to same level influencers tht aren’t out of her league
  • Survey questions can be based on contextual research compilation/ the existing market report such as this one
  • Questions have to be related to the position of ViYA in the digital world, and comparing her to other virtual influencers
  • User personas should be the type of people who would be the majority followers of ViYA. Think of it as people who can be potential customers to benefit EDT’s business

WEEK 5 (25/9/2023)

This week, we presented our survey questions as well as our positioning map to Mr. Mike. He suggested that we go into further detail when it comes to positioning Viya, as our criteria are still quite vague at the moment. After further discussion, it was also apparent that interviews may be a better approach for our topic, to get more curated data. Moving forward, we immediately got to work with structuring the interview questions and started looking for potential interviewees. However, it was proven to be a challenge to find virtual influencer fans who are local and available for a physical interview, or knowledgeable experienced personnel in the field. 

Feedback
  • The aim of the survey questions is to collect findings for building ViYA
  • Feel free to expand ViYA’s backstory and elaborate more
  • Survey questions are too surface-level, doing interviews may help gather more in-depth findings
  • The benchmark chart y-axis can have a measurement of high follower count /low follower count, x-axis can have premium brand/ cosumer brand
  • Consumer brand can be broken down to many smaller parts
  • Target audience of interview: Creator/ die-hard fans

WEEK 6 (2/10/2023)

This week, there was another hiccup when it came to our interviewee target and our personas. It is suggested that we look for the interviewees based on our personas. There was also an issue with how we plan to position Viya and whether our axis reflects our objective accurately. Honestly, the struggle was quite frustrating and upsetting for all of us, as it seems like we have been working in circles and not going anywhere. However, we recollected ourselves and started our interviews. We worked with what we had and expanded from there. It truly challenged our problem-solving skills and teamwork. I’m grateful that all our team members are eager to put their best into this project, and thankful that friends and strangers are willing to take their time out to be interviewed for our project. 

Interview notes:  

Feedback
  • Target audience is not limited to just the three chosen virtual influencers anymore, can just be any virtual influencers fans

WEEK 7 (9/10/2023)

This week, we compiled and organised the data we collected during our interviews. We analyzed the data according to different categories on how we could potentially improve Viya. There were many relevant points raised by our interviewees and their answers gave us great insight into what fans of Virtual influencers like and want. Through consultation, we were able to solidify or direction from the data collected and dive deeper on how we could expand Viya as a virtual influencer. We are optimistic about our progress and look forward to continue progressing Viya, through boundless content that a virtual influencer is capable of offering. 

WEEK 8 (16/10/2023)

This week, we worked on the insight discoveries, problem statement and how might we statements. Through constructing these statements, it helped to narrow down our focus for the project and realign our purpose. It was also a good recap to refocus ourselves on the main focus we need to keep in mind for the entire project moving forward. As it is ILW, we did not have consultation for the week, so we focused on completing the pending tasks. 
fig 8.1 week 8 progress

WEEK 9 (16/10/2023)

This week’s consultation gave us an understanding on the preparations needed for the upcoming client proposal presentation. Needless to say it was a lot,but the 5 of us got to work with the proposal immediately, brainstormed and delegated the tasks together. We were a bit unsure of how to produce suitable key visuals for Viya, when we still have not gotten her model, or any greenlight on whether we could alter her appearance. Honestly, this entire project has been filled with a lot of uncertainties due to the limited information provided by the client to the point where I don’t think critical thinking skills is the problem here. However, we still had to get things done so we got together and decided that we would make instagram mockup posts, outfit suggestions and poster visuals to showcase what we hope to transform Viya into. I was tasked to work on the instagram mock-up posts by editing viya into real-life influencer photos and coming up with more suitable captions. It was an interesting experience and i picked up a new skill in the process. 
fig 9.1 Instagram mock-ups

WEEK 10 (30/10/2023)

This week, we focused all our energy on completing our proposal presentation slides. We had trouble determining our main key visual so we ended up making 3 types. But after consultation with Mr Mike, we managed to narrow it down to one main  key visual, which we collectively agreed to be the Instagram mock-ups, as they are the most relevant in presenting Viya. Another setback was the design of our slides, which was deemed “unlike something a design student would do”, which was more of an insult than straight-up telling us it was bad if I’m being honest. So we spent some time figuring that out. Since none of us was from a graphic background, we took a lot of references from good examples and even consulted some of our peers from graphic design. It was a great learning experience all in all.
fig 10.1 presentation slides miro board

fig 10.2 Instagram mock-up pt 2

As for the presentation itself, it went quite well and Mr Fariz was very open to our suggestions. However, I felt like there was a huge difference in how we fundamentally view Viya and virtual influencers in general. Mr Fariz seems to be very adamant about monetizing Viya, but we believe that simply cannot be possible without a solid base. It’s an ongoing discussion and challenge for us to figure out in the upcoming 4 weeks.

Proposal Slides

WEEK 11 (6/11/2023)

This week, we worked on a plan for how we want to take over Viya’s Instagram over the next 3 weeks as part of our execution. We came up with various IG posts and stories, looked up potential events Viya could participate in and make an appearance at, and looked for local brands we could reach out to. After consultation, Mr Mike suggested that we look more into the story we want Viya to portray to the audience. It should remain an authenticity where she is portrayed as an emerging influencer and not as a product being launched or as an industry plant. When it comes to content, she should also have a certain pattern to the way she posts that plays a part in shaping her identity in the eye of her audience. “Making normal things seem extraordinary” should be the way to go, and it’s interesting to study how influencers manage to make aesthetics look effortless. We took some photos that we hope will be able to demonstrate to EDT what we are trying to achieve, and am ready to meet with them to understand their workflow better. I’m excited to implement what we've learned into Viya’s execution. We have also prepared a milestone chart to set goals for Viya’s upcoming progress.

fig 11.1 post proposal plan

fig 11.2 milestone map 

WEEK 12 (13/11/2023)
Our progress has come to a halt this week, with no consultation or much progress on anything. Our visit to EDT was delayed, causing a snowballing effect towards all our progression getting pushed back. It was stressful, but a necessary break from the project for everyone to recharge.  

WEEK 13 (20/11/2023)
The demo finally happened this week, with a quick meeting with Mr Fariz and the EDT puppeteer Yon. The process turned out to be a lot less complicated than I thought, and we managed to get Viya’s head model. This allows room for more possibilities in terms of our final execution and I am excited to start shooting and getting to work on the mockups. We also constructed our user journey map based on our personas, and after consultation with Mr Mike, we’ve gotten a better idea of how the user journey map works and how we could use it to our advantage.

Besides that, we moved on and completed our photoshoot for Viya, ready for the mockup creation. We referenced a lot of posing tips and tricks from Xiaohongshu, but mostly relied on our charismatic model to pull of the shots. Overall it was a productive week and I am motivated to push for the best in our final execution.

fig 13.1.1 taking pictures is a collaborative effort




WEEK 14 (27/11/2023)
Our Unreal engine team has gone through a big hurdle this week. There were a lot of technical obstacles faced. The first head we rendered looked pretty bad, and our attempt to beautify the head ended up becoming a plastic surgery for Viya and turned her into a Pixar character. Follow-up attempts made Viya look asian again, but still pretty different from her original appearance that we agreed not to alter. 
fig 14.1 Visual representation of how everyone felt

A breakthrough later from our Unreal engine team generated us more rendered heads to be photoshopped onto our photos taken last week. It was quite tricky to get the angles and lighting right and to effectively crop out or hide the original model’s head seamlessly, but the results turned out quite legit, and we are all proud of our progress.

fig 14.2.1 Viya's plastic surgery saga

fig 14.2.2 Viya 2.0 

fig 14.2.3 Superimpose process

WEEK 15 (4/12/2023)
We started putting everything we did for the past weeks together to generate legitimate-looking mockups. Mr Mike suggested deep (slightly philosophical?) captions to showcase Viya’s vulnerable personality and care for human emotions despite being virtual but we couldn’t come up with any without any context and risk making her sound cringe. Especially when the photos we had were just silly photos of Viya having fun, not exactly the type for her to sit down and talk about her existential crisis and reinvent herself. We decided to stick with Viya’s casual outgoing personality and lighthearted content for now. Of course, we stuck with our main principles in writing captions, which are concise with a fun hook to engage with the followers. 
Our presentation is next week, and we are excited to finally tie a bow to this project.
fig 15.1 Post mockup with captions 


fig 15.2 Post carousel showcase

WEEK 16 (11/12/2023)
Our presentation went very well! Mr Fariz and Mr Mike are both impressed with how far we've come and managed to complete in this short period. We also worked to get the Project-tracking document ready for submission.
fig 16.1 Online final presentation

Final Outcome

Presentation Slides

Viya by Jiahui Leong

Project-Tracking Document 

Reflection

This project was a TRIP. From going into the project thinking we'd be sculpting models and creating VRs to getting thrown into marketing for a virtual influencer, I learned a lot from the project. This project introduced me to the world of virtual influencers, and how its technology works in various fields. It was frustrating in the beginning few weeks of the project, where we were quite lost with our direction and every step we took felt like it was leading us nowhere. Since marketing was nobody's forte, it was challenging and the constant feedback and amendments we needed to do every week felt repetitive and discouraging.

What made this project enjoyable was the teammates, where everyone was putting in equally good effort in making this project a success, lifting each other up when morale was low and willing to step in and help whenever needed. I'm honestly pleasantly surprised by our final outcome, and it was 100% a team effort. 

Viya has opened a lot of doors for us in terms of technical and marketing fields. She got me interested in VIs and inspired me to potentially start my own. It was a very different project from what we usually do, in fact, it was a very different project in every way possible. I'm glad I took up this project instead, got introduced to a new world of VIs and got to work with amazing people. Life works in strange ways, and I can't help but get attached to Viya by the end of this project. She felt like she's part ours, and I hope to see Viya grow more in the future 😊

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