Flavour Hunter AR Geolocation App

Flavour Hunter is a mobile AR app prototype that gamifies food discovery across Melbourne’s CBD. It guides users through interactive mini-games, clues, and location-based challenges to uncover local eateries, earn rewards, and support small businesses, all while turning dining exploration into a playful, immersive experience.

Overview

Project Brief

Key Objectives

Design Recommendation

UI Design and Branding

Key Screens

  • Make food exploration fun, engaging, and interactive.

  • Support local eateries by driving real-world customer traffic.

  • Encourage users to discover hidden or underrated food spots.

  • Offer a reward system that motivates continued engagement.

  • Promote Melbourne’s culinary diversity through gamified interaction.

A combination of focus group discussions and prototype user testing sessions were conducted:

Participants: Young adults aged 18–35 who regularly explore new cafes or restaurants.

Methods: Task-based usability tests, guided app walkthroughs, and open-ended interviews.

Findings:

  •   Users enjoyed the idea of earning discounts while exploring food spots.

  •   Many found the app’s mini-games (clues and hangman) both fun and motivating.

  •   Some users preferred having clearer navigation cues and simpler instructions.

  •   A leaderboard feature was requested to increase competition among friends.

Reflection

Takeaways

Flavour Hunter is a mobile AR food exploration app designed to take users on an interactive culinary journey across Melbourne’s CBD. Through mini-games and geolocation clues, users discover ten local food spots, from bakeries to dessert cafes, progressing from breakfast to dinner while earning discounts and rewards. The app bridges entertainment with local business support, turning food discovery into a game-like experience.

The goal of this project was to design and prototype a mobile application that integrates augmented reality and interactive gameplay to encourage users to explore Melbourne’s diverse food culture. Flavour Hunter allows users to follow location-based clues, play mini-games, and collect points that can be redeemed for rewards at participating restaurants. This project was developed as part of the Interaction Design for Mobile Devices unit at Swinburne University, focusing on the intersection of usability, storytelling, and real-world engagement.

Problem Statement

Research Goals

Primary Research

User Personas

While Melbourne is celebrated for its food scene, locals and tourists often revisit familiar spots or rely on generic review apps. Existing food-finding tools lack interactive elements that turn exploration into an engaging activity. The challenge was to design an application that transforms food discovery into an immersive game, encouraging exploration, supporting local businesses, and providing tangible rewards.

1. Understand how users currently explore and decide on dining options.

2. Identify motivational factors behind food discovery and gamification.

3. Explore usability challenges in location-based and AR mobile apps.

4. Gather insights into how incentives influence user engagement.

1. The Food Explorer

Loves discovering hidden cafes and sharing experiences on social media. Looks for new and affordable dining spots.

Needs: Easy navigation, social sharing, real-time rewards.

2. The Casual Gamer

Enjoys playful and challenge-based experiences. Motivated by competition and points.

Needs: Engaging mini-games, progress tracking, and leaderboard integration.

3. The Tourist

Visits Melbourne occasionally and wants local recommendations beyond tourist traps.

Needs: Clear directions, simple onboarding, and language-friendly UI.

  • Replace redundant UI elements (like tick icons) with clear next-step buttons.

  • Introduce a leaderboard for social and competitive engagement.

  • Simplify text hierarchy for better readability.

  • Include a QR code system for users to easily redeem vouchers.

  • Optimize navigation and flow consistency for smoother user journeys.

The visual identity of Flavour Hunter blends playful and modern aesthetics to reflect Melbourne’s vibrant food culture. The logo and colour palette were created in Adobe Illustrator, while the prototype was built in Figma.

  • Colour Palette: Warm tones inspired by food (orange, yellow) mixed with calm purples for contrast.

  • Typography: Rounded sans-serif fonts to enhance readability and friendly tone.

  • Interaction Elements: Subtle animations, clear icons, and accessible button placements.

  • AR Integration: Simulated through camera overlay prompts and glowing navigation cues.

Developing Flavour Hunter taught me the importance of testing interactive concepts in real-world contexts. Seeing users engage with the prototype outdoors helped me identify genuine usability challenges, like unclear navigation and delayed transitions. The Figma experience also expanded my understanding of prototyping dynamic features, from AR simulations to multi-screen navigation. Despite technical constraints (e.g., lack of real camera or keyboard input), user enthusiasm validated the concept’s potential for real deployment.

  • Early concept testing reveals usability issues that static wireframes can’t.

  • Real-world prototype testing provides richer, more authentic insights than lab sessions.

  • Designing with scalability in mind, such as optimizing file size and navigation is crucial.

  • Visual hierarchy and simplified instructions directly improve user engagement.

  • Blending gamification with real-world exploration creates memorable user experiences.