We gathered information on the history of Toronto's public washrooms, analyzing past and current articles to understand how they have evolved over time and why they are in their current state. Based on this research, we developed potential scenarios for the future. We have drawn a few trends and notable timeframes:

• Toronto has made the public reliant on businesses providing washrooms instead of installing more public washrooms around the city
• Toronto has a history of cancelling the installation of public washrooms due to cost cutting measures

To determine the focus of our project on Toronto public washrooms, I brought each team member’s focus on a specific problem of TPW by conducting an exploration of the themes from our research findings into questions (4 W’s). From there we clustered notes into problems we wanted to tackle.

We created three distinct proof of concepts, which I filmed and edited:

• Washroom usage is timed before washroom become transparent to the city streets
• Washrooms with immersive ads that subsidizes private washrooms to become public
• Contactless smart card payment to access washrooms similar to Presto

We chose the concept where washrooms with immersive ads that subsidizes private washrooms to become public. We started experimenting with different equipment and applications that is feasible for a prototype such as:

Tools did work:

• Polycam and Luma AI to capture and reconstruct real-world objects and scenes into our 3D assets.
• SparkAr to demonstrate prototype on a smaller and accessible scale but it was limited to only an AR experience, so it was not fully immersive
• Oculus Quest Pro to demonstrate prototype on a smaller and accessible scale but it was limited to only an AR experience, so it was not fully immersive

Tools that did not work:

• Tobii glasses eyetracker to track ads with eye movements but it was an older model that had technical difficulties pairing with Unity
• Rift S headset to create an immersive washroom environment for ads to follow the headset but it was outdated tech that was too laggy and had screen drag causing quick motion sickness

My teammate built the first prototype in unity where the ads tracked with the headset so when you move the ad would follow you.

We presented our first iteration of our thesis project to our classmates and other professors who came into to try out the experience. We recieved positive feedback on the equipment we chose to host our project on but we required more of a story to connect the user to understanding out concept better.

We moved from a cyberpunk dystopia theme, that feels current, clean and corporate. We decided to mimic modern branding that feels grounded in the present than a far reaching future concept.

• Must display that the washroom collects biodata
• Show targetted tiered ads based on biodata collected at the most opportune moments.
• Instructional audio and text of each step of the washroom experience and how Loo works

Once we identified the key features for our second prototype, we created a systems map to better structure our narrative and user experience flow. During our showcase, we were not surprised by people asking questions we could easily answer with this systems map.

After we did a group huddle to ideate what UI assets are required for this experience. I took the lead in building it which led to working closely with my teammate working on the UI elements and other 2 teamates to understand the steps of the VR experience with Unity technicality. I also worked with professors to work on the code and any technical issues.

Showcasing our second project to prospective industry leaders and fellow peers. Using existing modular furniture, we created a booth that was inviting and engaging for users to try out our experience.

A lot of prior research into understanding the reason why public washrooms are the way they are today in Toronto. From this, we were able to map out trends and project into the future. With this we accomplished working together to build a system, create a UI/UX kit, use design thinking methodology to consolidate our ideas, and build a functional prototype for anyone to experience.

Some key takeaways from this project are:

• Being a project manager and a team member working on various steps of the process was challenging and rewarding. There were times when we needed more time on different phases, but we quickly bounced back and adapted to the timeline by changing priorities around. We made sure not to be overly ambitious with our prototype, while still delivering an impactful experience.
• Creating a prototype in Unity was a significant accomplishment as a UX designer. Developing the prototype in Unity also allowed me to work closely with developers to better understand the technical constraints and possibilities of the platform. These skills have equipped me to design more effective and engaging experiences in the future.