SAMMA
An experience to tour your apartment from anywhere.
Background
Role
I initially joined the launch team as a spatial designer to curate the interiors, then shifted into a product designer role redesigned the experience for the digital twin virtual walkthrough.
Company
Visualiz Inc
Duration
1 Year
Tools
Figma, UE5, After Effect, Substance 3D, Blender
Summary
SAMMA provides realistic virtual walkthroughs of in-construction apartments for those unable to visit in person. Originally a video service, we transformed it into an immersive VR and web experience using client-focused design strategies.
Challenge
Our client, Marimo, a real estate development company, needed a solution to encourage their audience to quickly move into their newly developed apartments to boost revenue and improve operations.
Problem
With more Tokyo residents relocating to suburban areas, users face time and cost barriers when searching for new apartments. We needed to design a remote model home experience that helps them feel the space and make confident decisions, without the need for in-person visits.
Research
User Interviews
Through an interview, I learn how people physically engage with a model home environment to make confident housing decisions. Since the product centers around spatial experience, I conducted on-site interviews with model house visitors and a sales agent to capture first-hand insights into their behaviors, questions, and decision-making process. These interviews revealed four key themes:
Experience
Users want to feel the space to better grasp the scale and imagine themselves living in it.
Placement
Users seek accurate measurements to determine what furniture they can bring.
Communication
Users value having direct access to agents to gather detailed information and negotiate confidently.
Sound
Incorporating human-to-object interaction sound will bring a stronger immersive feeling.
Surveys
Aiming to understand user pain points better when searching for apartments outside Tokyo, I wrote open-ended and scaled questions to gather both qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring responses reflected real user frustrations and behaviors. Analyzing the responses helped me identify four key insights:
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Urgency: Users often need to secure a new apartment within a short timeframe, creating pressure in their decision-making process.
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Spatial Understanding: Users prefer to virtually experience the space rather than rely solely on static photos.
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Cost Barrier: Traveling from Tokyo to suburban or rural areas just to view apartments adds a significant financial and time burden.
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Remote Communication: Users favor connecting with agents online over making in-person visits.
RITE Method
To bring our client’s vision to life, we designed a digital twin app that lets users remotely explore their future living space. I led an agile workflow and applied the RITE (Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation) method to quickly identify usability issues, test design solutions in real-time, and iterate based on user feedback. This approach helped us improve usability and reduce time to launch.
Findability
Users had trouble locating navigation options when the menu bar was collapsed, leading to confusion and added friction during exploration.
Readability
Key menu items and interface elements were difficult to identify or distinguish when the menu was closed, reducing overall clarity.
Apartment Details
Users consistently looked for key apartment information, such as pricing, amenities, and special perks, but found it missing.
Define
Synthisizing Result
I wanted to clarify the user's pain points to empathize and visualize the major problems the user experienced, so I created a persona and journey map. As a result, I managed to see what type of product we could develop for the users.
Erica Ito
Age: 27
Occupation: Nurse
Location: Tokyo
Erica Ito
Bio
Erica plans to move from Tokyo to the countryside of Hiroshima in 4 months. She is searching for a new apartment online and finds one under development, but the photos are not enough. She wants to see the model room but does not want to take time off or spend a lot to traveling from Tokyo. However, she needs a way to view the model house remotely, so she can decide better with the apartment.
Pains
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Cost too much to travel to view the apartment.
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Cannot take a day off from work.
Needs
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A way to view the model house remotely.
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Needs to feel the space
Wants
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Choose a good apartment.
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Spend less money.
Search
Discover
Validation
Experience
"Hi Agent, any suggestions for the areas? I'm looking for a newer place."
Oh nice there’s a new apartment at area I want to move to!
I can’t really tell by just looking photo! Photo might be edited!
I can’t take a day off to visit the model house. It’s too far!
Will my current furniture fit in this apartment, where's the plan...
User Intention
To clarify how users navigate and interact with a space, I created an intent-based behavior flow diagram using insights from interviews and RITE testing. This helped surface two primary user goals:
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Exploring the space.
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Reading apartment details.
This clarity guided how we structured the information architecture and prioritized key interactions, ensuring users could find what they needed quickly and confidently.
Reanalyzing Design Principles
By reexamining the design principle by reflecting on the research results, I was able to spot overlooked friction points and validate effective interactions. This helped identify which areas reinforced a positive user experience and which introduced friction.
Readability
Increase text contrast and adjust color choices to improve legibility across lighting conditions.
Insightfulness
Highlight lifestyle perks and nearby amenities to support more informed, emotionally driven decisions.
Information Architecture
Standardize the placement of the menu bar to improve navigation consistency and memory recall.
Innovativeness
Introduce interactive features to create a more engaging virtual experience.
Learnability
Add onboarding cues to help first-time users navigate with confidence.
Mockup
Design Solution
I wanted to align the experience with user intentions and core design principles, so I refined the UI and spatial layout accordingly. I drew inspiration from modern headset interfaces, such as those by Meta and Apple, to create a more polished, professional visual language. I also incorporated familiar patterns from Japanese home search apps to match user expectations and browsing behaviors.
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Minimalistic
I updated the icon based on user feedback and redesigned the UI with minimal taste considering both the headset and web experience.
Tutorial
To provide clearer guidance, I added a quick step-by-step tutorial to help users learn how to use the ruler feature.
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Information
I added a section to provide users with the key information they typically look for when browsing real estate websites at the right side because Eastern culture reads from right.
Result
Sales Improvement
Boosted sales speed and cut operational costs by 20% for our client.
Faster Sellout
Accelerated the sellout process by 33%, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and revenue generation.
Takeaways
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VR Restrictions: Several factors had to be considered when building the app, with a primary focus when considering 3D buttons and minimizing material and polygon sizes to optimize performance.
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Fast Pace Improvement: Due to the tight deadline, we adopted an agile approach, enabling us to refine and adjust the design dynamically throughout development.
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Intention: Users were accustomed to viewing apartments online, primarily to narrow their preferences, making it essential to design with their intentions in mind at each step.
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Collaboration: Learning the business perspective of design through the client's marketing team's intention taught us the importance of revenue projection that design may bring.
Next Step
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Chatbot: Design a chatbot to answer common questions about pricing, amenities, and transportation, making agent communication faster and more accessible.
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Interaction: Add tap-to-view details for kitchen and furniture brands to inspire users and support room planning.