Visual Design / Ux Project
BeePlex is an interactive environment that strives to introduce users to the fascinating world of Mason Bees. The goal is to spark an interest in these little hard-working pollinators.
Using vivid illustrations, animation, and user interaction, BeePlex shows users a different type of bee. A friendly bee for any backyard.
Genus: Osmia
Family: Megachilidae
Mason Bees get their name from the mud, pebble, and dirt they use in the construction of their nests. Mason Bee nests consist of any hollow tube that can be anywhere from ⅝ to ¾ of an inch in diameter.
Mason Bees are a very diverse genus with over 150 species in North America alone. One of the most common being Osmia Lignaria or the Blue Orchard Bee.
The Honey Bee crisis is an issue that a great number of people are concerned about. It’s an issue that affects our entire ecosystem and is growing every year. While Mason Bees can never replace Honey Bees, they can help ease our pollination needs.
There are plenty of Mason Bee houses and building tutorials Online, but not very many awareness campaigns. BeePlex fills the gap between the building tutorials and existence of the bees.
2 / 10 people knew what Mason Bees were prior to physical info.
9 / 10 Could recall seeing or hearing about Mason Bees after a description.
All participants knew about the dying Honeybee crisis.
6 / 10 Knew what the colony collapse problem was about to some extent.
Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when worker bees disappear and leave behind a live queen, food, and nurse bees.
There are many speculated causes such as the ones listed above, but most Beekeepers identify the Varroa Mite as one of the most present and significant threats. Other sources are listed below.
Varroa Mites are tiny hive beetles from sub-Saharan Africa and are present in over 30 states as of 2014. They are able to multiple quickly and can easily overwhelm a strong hive if left unchecked.
The original concept included a physical kit that would pair with an animatic.
The kit would provide all the need pieces for a thriving Mason Bee colony. Due to the problems listed below, the project was changed to be entirely digital and more interactive for the user.
The first version of the bee hive that was far more high tech than necessary. It ended up being way to expensive and would not be viable for the project.
The second version that was far more feesible than the first. It ended up being way to expensive and would not be viable for the project.
My original designs were not meant to be main characters or really to have a unique personality at all. They were more of meant as supplementary images for infographics about Mason Bees.
When the project started to evolve, the stylization and personality of the characters evolved with it. The most important part of the redesign was to seperate her from a Honeybee so that she was more unique. She also needed a personality that was equally unique, flaws and all.
Some of the exploratory sketch work trying to find a unique design that would lead to the final concept for my central character.
These are some more studies that explored a variety of emotion and poses.
The goal was to make sure that the design moving forward was able to convey a range of expressions.
A cast of bees was created to show the differences, similarities, and uniqueness between other species of bees
Creating persona cards was important to get a feel of each characters individuality. It was especally important when designing the environment, furniture, and overall interior aesthetic.
The goal was to get a visual grasp of how the physical hive piece of the project would be used. At the start the project was directed towards a parent / young child audience.
A separate user storyboard that was centered around a DIY version of the physical bee hive. It still involved parents, but was more about inspiring through the digital project.
This was the first test version of the animation. It was the basis for the expanded version B. Some of the sections were modified and the flow between the frames was refined.
This was the final animatic that expanded on A and was far more in depth by comparison. This animatic featured a more dynamic and flowing panel structure. My favorite part is the introduction, mostly because it was really fun to see her expressions and design her character in motion.
If I were to recreate this at the projects current stage, I would make it more like the first sequence and be Mable introducing herself to the audience.
These were the first attempts to move towards a fully digital interactive hive. It was the test model that I reworked into the final.
This final full color version of the project with the selection sprite sheet halos marked for each of the different stage interactions.
Some details were added and subtracted during coloring.
This style with line work was able to stand out the best and would become the style for not only the UI, but also for the different stages.
The process allowed the UI to have a hand drawn feel while still being vector scalable.
These were meant to be used as intro icons between the various stages.
These icons were meant to be used as the navigation UI for each stage
These icons were meant to entice the user to test out more choices and create a reason to interact with the environment.
The reward icons were styled the same as the UI for consistancy.
Many of the icons were references to pop culture aspects.
Most are based off of bee puns, such as a ZomBee.
Each has a counter part that the user recieves at the same time.
Lauren is conscious about environmental protection. She recycles, gardens, and drives a hybrid car. She has heard about the Honey Bee crisis and will donate to the cause if offered the opportunity.
She is not a big fan of bugs in general however. She reads about BeePlex on a gardening blog she regularly follows. She’s never heard of a Mason Bee before and hesitantly decides to visit the site.
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Income: 36,000
Marital: Married
Children: 2
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
Age: 32
Gender: Female
Income: 36,000
Marital: Married
Children: 2
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
Chris is a decently YouTuber who makes most of his videos on weird trends on the internet. He sees a few of the shared icon images from BeePlex, some of which are about Memes.
He decides to check it out even though he is not very interested in bees. He thinks the project is interesting enough, the mechanics are simple and smooth. What he really likes about the project are the Icons, so he ends up sharing a few of them to his followers.
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Income: 75,000
Marital: Single
Children: 0
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Income: 75,000
Marital: Single
Children: 0
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
Elias is a student who doesn’t really care about the environment. He is more into art and design. He finds BeePlex through a link on a blog about Phaser.
He is interested by the art style and creating in phaser, so he checks the site out. He returns to BeePlex to show a friend how the choices and environment work.
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Income: 25,000
Marital: Single
Children: 0
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Income: 25,000
Marital: Single
Children: 0
Tech Skill
Environmental Concern
Environmental Knowledge
Bee Crisis Knowledge
Mason Knowledge
