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Apps and Gamification Experts

RACCOOPACK MEDIA

" The best thing to happen to the martial arts world since the belt system. "

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#f5f5f5;">Martial arts is an art of discipline. Students need courage and motivation to attend class each week, and practicing for years to advance through the belts.</span></p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#f5f5f5;">A central problem that many martial art schools face is that once students give up and leave, they never come back.</span></p>

<h4 style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#424242;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>We wanted to fix that.</strong></span></span></h4><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">By specializing in building apps that focus on engagement and fun, this project was a great fit. Soon enough, Curran’s Karate partnered with us to build a gamified platform for his martial arts schools.</span></p>

<p style="text-align:center;">The MyDojo platform consists of 2 apps:</p>

The MyDojo Game

<h5 style="text-align:center;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>Main features include</strong></span></h5><div class="raw-html-embed"><div style="
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<li>Train characters to level up</li>
<li>Build, decorate, and level up your dojo</li>
<li>Complete challenges from parents to earn points</li>
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<li>3 original character designs</li>
<li>Unlock new adventures by attending real-life class</li>
<li>100+ unique decoration items and customizations</li>
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The Companion App

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">The Companion App carries two sides of functionality that serve two user groups.</span></p>

<h5><span style="font-size:22px;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>The Parents</strong></span></span></h5><p><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Parents can use the app and view a dashboard of their child’s progress — both in game and school.</span><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">They can assign custom challenges, such as helping with household chores or reading a chapter in a book to reward them after.</span></p>

<h5><span style="font-size:22px;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;"><strong>The Instructors</strong></span></span></h5><p><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Instructors can manage their dojo all in one place.&nbsp;</span><br><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">They can take attendance, track student rank progression, and update parent and student information to help them rank up and receive rewards for their positive actions.</span></p>

<p><span style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">To spark life into the initial concept of the MyDojo ecosystem, we first began with creative briefs and workshops to brainstorm the vision - ultimately refining the concept into characters, backgrounds, and gameplay.</span></span></p>

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">As with any project that we do, we always bring the app into the hands of users to get their feedback. Utilizing in-person and remote user test sessions, we were able to make the user experience better - taking the project to further heights.</span></span></p>

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="color:#FFFFFF;">We met frequently to collaborate with the client, reviewing designs together and testing prototypes to ensure that we were on the same page at all times.</span></p>

<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">Looking back, what came out was a beautiful, gamified platform for martial arts schools, catering to everyone from children, parents, and instructors. Looking ahead, our team is excited to see an improvement in student retention along with wonderful habits and behaviours being taught to young minds - creating better leaders of tomorrow.</span><br>&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;"><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">✅ Apps successfully completed and launched on iOS and Android app stores</span><br><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">📈 Expected 25% increase retention in martial art schools&nbsp;</span><br><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">🥋 Good habits and behaviours taught to young martial arts students</span><br><br><span style="white-space:pre-wrap;">⭐ 5/5 rating from client on scheduling, cost, and quality</span></p><p style="text-align:center;">&nbsp;</p>

“Amazing team. I have never worked with a group of people that were so good and asking questions to ensure that they understood what I wanted.”

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Apps made fun.

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Building Good Habits with a Mobile App

Teaching martial arts and good habits with MyDojo World

MyDojo World

<h5><span style="color:#6FB53C;">Invasive species can spread quickly and cause harm to native species, in some cases resulting in the eradication of entire native species.</span></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><span style="color:#6FB53C;">The impact of invasive species can be difficult to illustrate. What if you can experience this firsthand as you play a game?&nbsp;</span></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><span style="color:#6FB53C;">We developed Invader Crusaders - an intuitive and educational web-based game with</span><span style="color:#8bc34a;"> </span><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://bcinvasives.ca/"><span style="color:#8bc34a;">ISCBC</span></a><span style="color:#7cb342;"> </span><span style="color:#6FB53C;">- a non-profit registered charity in the pursuit of healty communities free of invasive species.</span></h5>

<h4><strong>PROBLEM</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>As part of ISCBC’s educational and outreach efforts, ISCBC saw an opportunity to engage youth to learn about invasive species in a fun and interactive manner. They needed a development partner experienced in gamification and app development to take on this project. Given our portfolio in working with non-profit clients, ISCBC saw us to be the right fit.</p><p>We first started with a consultation meeting, which helped us identify the key goals of the project:</p><ul><li>Create a simple, educational game that is visually appealing</li><li>Educate youth on invasive species and what can be done to reduce their spread</li><li>Launch the game for desktop and tablets devices<br>&nbsp;</li></ul><h4><strong>SOLUTION</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>With a team of talented game designers, UI/UX designers, and developers, we brought the game idea of Invader Crusaders to life.</p>

<h5>How to Play<br>&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Win by having more native species than invasive species on the map<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Faced with a scenario, pick the responsible option to prevent species from spreading<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Strategically remove invasive species that impact native species</li></ul><h5><br>Learning Outcomes<br>&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Understand what invasive and native species are<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Identify human behaviours that cause invasive species to spread<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Take actions that prevent invasive species from spreading</li></ul><h5><br>Features<br>&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Simple, turn-based gameplay<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Animated species and background<br>&nbsp;</li><li>60 pieces of custom scenario art<br>&nbsp;</li><li>10 levels to play<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Desktop and tablet support</li></ul>

<h4><strong>PROCESS</strong></h4><h4>&nbsp;</h4><h4><strong>Making Learning Fun</strong></h4><p>We first started by experimenting with different game designs. Initially, we designed the game with a core mechanic of identifying the type of invasive species.</p><p>However, to better meet the learning outcomes, we built upon this by focusing on a simple message behind the game that is memorable for the players: Invasive species can spread and cause harm to native species. To this end, players will focus on the goal of minimizing the spread of invasive species.</p><p>We learned a lot about invasive species throughout this project — as ISCBC are the experts in this subject matter, we worked closely with them to develop game events that are both relevant and interesting.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Frequent Communication and Feedback</strong></h5><p>One of the main success factors of the project lies in the communication that was maintained throughout the project between our team and ISCBC. To adapt to the situation of COVID-19, we met digitally online to provide ISCBC with updates to the project. We demonstrated mockups and prototypes early on, which allowed us to make UI and game design improvements while solidifying the vision of the game.</p><p>For example, we identified early on that the game should incorporate some of ISCBC’s core programs. From there, we organized the game’s levels to teach these programs incrementally.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Creating a Tutorial</strong></h5><p>As we conducted user tests with the target audience, there was one common learning. We discovered that the game would benefit from a quick tutorial level that teaches the player how to play. The player is aided by a series of popups that introduces each element of the game as they move along in the level. Not only are they able to learn from the tutorial level, but we also implemented it as a tooltip that can be easily accessed outside of the tutorial level.</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Our efforts proved to be fruitful in realizing the vision of the project: We produced a beautiful, polished web game that is not only attractive and entertaining to play, but also serves to educate youth on invasive species.</p><p>The evidence? We listened to the feedback of our players. As we conducted further user testing with the game’s intended players, we received consistent positive feedback that the game had taught them something new about invasive species.</p><p>As players tackle the different levels, they quickly grasp the effective strategies when encountering invasive species that will help them win the level. That translates to knowledge that can be similarly applied in real world applications. The effectiveness of gamification is reflected in this project.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

Program Coordinator - Invasive Species Council of BC

The game successfully represents the values of the organization and also serves to further educate younger generations about invasive species. Raccoopack Media leverages their creativity and expertise to produce quality results.

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Web Game to Educate on Invasive Species

Educating about the effects of BC's Invasive Species

Invader Crusaders

<h4><span style="color:#E66E94;">Continuing care workers often face stressful situations.</span><br><span style="color:#E66E94;">How do we help them manage stress and promote mental wellness?</span></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We created Bear In Mind for SafeCare BC, an industry funded, non-profit association working to ensure injury free, safe working conditions for continuing care workers in BC.</p>

<h4>PROBLEM</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>SafeCare BC recognizes the importance of psychological health, resilience, and stress management in the continuing sector. As part of their initiative to continuously increase the effectiveness of training, they have the following needs to consider:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Engagement: The training needs to be delivered in an interactive and modern format.<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Accessibility: Many continuing care workers cannot access in-person training, due to various reasons.<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Relevance: The audience should find the learning personalized and easy to start.<br>&nbsp;</li></ul><p>Based on our team’s past experience with developing a gamified staff training module for Vancouver Coastal Health, SafeCare BC found our team to be the right fit and tasked us tackle this challenge.</p>

<h4>SOLUTION</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>After several brainstorming sessions with SafeCare BC, we arrived at the idea of developing the educational mobile game Bear In Mind - a mobile app that teaches mental health techniques to continuing care workers in order to become more resilient during unexpected situations.</p>

<h5>How it works</h5><p>Learners guide their continuing care bear worker to navigate day-to-day challenges at work and in their personal life.</p><p>The gameplay is simple and intuitive – learners are presented with various dialogues depicting difficult situations. In each dialogue, learners choose a response to the situation, and the outcome of their choices are played out in the dialogue.</p>

<h5>Interactive, Hands-On Learning</h5><p>As each dialogue is completed, appropriate stress management techniques are showcased to teach the concept. The learner is awarded more points for making better decisions that promote their psychological well-being and resilience.</p>

<h5>Key Features<br>&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Scenario based learning game<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Hands-on engagement through choices<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Presentation of stress management techniques<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Customizable bear appearance<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Online leaderboard</li></ul>

<h4>PROCESS</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><h5>Designing a Learning Game</h5><p>In order to craft a game that produces the intended learning results, we needed to gather detailed research on mental health. We worked closely with SafeCare BC to conduct field research with continuing care workers to gather common stressors and the ways patients cope with them.</p><p>On top of that, we interviewed experts in mental health to understand the techniques used to promote resilience and wellness. This information allowed us to design the game with dialogues that are realistic, relatable, and relevant for continuing care workers</p>

<h5>A Bear to Call Your Own</h5><p>One main charm of <strong>Bear in Mind</strong> is as the name suggests, the teddy bear mascot. Asides from giving the app a welcoming feel, this helps to make the learning more inviting and personable.</p><p>A design decision was made to make the teddy bear customizable with different clothing, allowing users to feel more empathetic with the teddy bear that embodies their choices inside the game.</p><h5>&nbsp;</h5>

<h5>Gathering Feedback</h5><p>In order to ensure that our game resonates with our audience, we took a user-centric approach of conducting playtest sessions with continuing care workers. The resulting feedback led to user interface changes that greatly improved the player experience. For example, the original design of the game included tasks inside the game that automatically complete each day. We learned from the feedback that players actually derived more engagement inside the game when they can manually check the tasks off by tapping on the screen.</p>

<h4>RESULTS</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Raccoopack Media launched Bear In Mind on Google Play and the Apple App Store, with the purpose of helping continuing care workers learn stress management techniques in a fun an interactive way.</p><p>From carefully gathering user needs and feedback throughout the design process, the result is a gamified learning app that is intuitive to play and learn, while offering the advantages of convenience and accessibility altogether.</p><p>• Learning app widely offered to 28,000+ SafeCare BC members<br>• Enjoyable educational resource for continuing care workers<br>• Increased user engagement and knowledge retention<br>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

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Learning App to Improve Mental Health

Improving Mental Health In British Columbia, Canada

Bear In Mind

<h5><span style="color:#158DA2;"><strong>The Client and Staff Portal helps customers place complex online lab testing orders and easily access to their reports at any time.</strong></span></h5>

<h4><strong>CHALLENGE</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Conducting a formal lab test involves many processes: From filling out paperwork, ordering supplies, sending supplies to the lab, and getting the lab results, we cannot even being to scratch the surface to the complexities of the process.</p><p>To turn all of this into one simplified process, we worked with CARO - Canada's leading laboratory testing services - to develop the most innovative and streamlined web app in their industry.</p>

<h4><strong>SOLUTION</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Conducting a formal lab test involves many processes: From filling out paperwork, ordering supplies, sending supplies to the lab, and getting the lab results, we cannot even being to scratch the surface to the complexities of the process.</p><p>To turn all of this into one simplified process, we worked with CARO - Canada's leading laboratory testing services - to develop the most innovative and streamlined web app in their industry.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><span style="color:#249CA5;"><strong>The Client and Staff Portal integrates complex systems into one easy app for users.</strong></span></p>

<h5><strong>1. Customer Portal</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Allows users to order supplies online, submit samples, and securely retrieve results in one integrated location.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Main Features</strong><br>&nbsp;</h5><ul><li>Bottle orders: Customers can easily browse and place orders for supplies.</li><li>Project management: Customers can sort their orders across projects and view their order statuses in real time.</li><li>Online sample submission: Customers can submit their sample information online using an automated form to speed up their workflow.</li><li>Invoices: Customers can locate, view, and download their order invoices.</li></ul>

<h5><strong>2. Staff Portal</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Behind the scenes, staff are supporting customers by using the staff portal that we created as part of the project:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Order review and management</li><li>Order processing</li><li>Customer account management</li></ul><h5><br><br><strong>3. Supporting Systems</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Client and Staff Portal are enabled by various systems that we connected together:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>eCommerce system</li><li>Laboratory information management system</li><li>Authentication system</li></ul>

<h4><strong>PROCESS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Mapping Out the Business Processes</strong></p><p>When we first started working with CARO, we were astounded by the number of steps, processes, and systems involved in fulfilling a lab test order.To ensure that the app addresses the needs of each user along each step of the process, we spent time understanding CARO’s business processes and translating them into a series of flows and features</p><p>The benefit of the user flows were two fold: Not only did the user flows depict how the user will interact with the app during each step, but it also revealed opportunities where the app can be used to address pain points for users.</p>

<h4><strong>Validating through User Testing</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>At Raccoopack Media, we conduct frequent user tests to gather as much feedback as reasonably possible during the development process.</p><p>For this project, we used an agile approach where we released a testable prototype each sprint, allowing us to facilitate user testing sessions and gather feedback with both the end users and the CARO project team. Here are some actual feedback we received!</p><p>“It’s quick and flexible.”</p><p>“It would be improved here if we can see tracking information on this screen.”</p><p>“Visuals are clean and the interface is clear.”</p><p>By involving the end users, we ensured that each feature is elevated to effectively address our user needs.</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>After a series of prototypes, user testing, and extensive quality assurance, the project was launched with success:</p><ul><li>Client and Staff Portal fully launched with 99% user uptake</li><li>Validated product satisfaction from user testing</li><li>Over 1000 monthly orders going digital - translating into saved administrative costs</li></ul><p><br>The project only marks the beginning of our continued partnership with CARO. As we approach our second year with them, we are working hard to ensure that future updates provide an even more enhanced user experience and we look forward to our continued efforts to building out BC's premier lab testing services.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

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eCommerce and Staff Online Portal

Streamlining Online eCommerce

CARO Analytical Services 

<h5><span style="color:#F06F93;">During the COVID-19 pandemic, we helped make a lively, large scale event happen – virtually.</span><br>&nbsp;</h5><p>The annual Hearts &amp; Hands event is a premier conference to celebrate the efforts of healthcare assistants. SafeCare BC was pleased with their prior experience in working with us, and reached out to us to develop an app for them once more.</p>

<h4><strong>PROBLEM</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>To ensure the health and safety of event participants during the COVID-19 pandemic, SafeCare BC decided to take the Hearts &amp; Hands event digital. Though it was different this time round, we made sure to keep in mind:&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Engagement:</strong> Although the event was going virtual, it should continue to be a quality and relevant experience for the participants. The event will need to recreate major parts of the event, such as presentations and education sessions.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Timeliness:</strong> The project needed to be completed quickly, as the event date was scheduled in a few months.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Accessibility: </strong>Participants need to be able to access the event on all device platforms at any given time.</li></ul>

<h4>SOLUTION</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Going virtual didn’t mean creating a lesser event experience: A virtual event opened up new ways to involve participants during the event. In fact, participants expressed their excitement over the interactive format of the event this year.</p><p>To meet the goals of the Hearts &amp; Hands 2020 event, we developed a web-based event app to deliver a content rich and user-friendly experience. On top of the features that supported the main aspects of the event, we designed gamification features that allow participants to earn points as they engage in each activity.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Main features we created inside the app include:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Multiple event activities:</strong> Activities include watching presentations, participating in learning activities, browsing sponsor spotlights, and viewing prizes.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Point system:</strong> Participants earn points as they participate in activities to enter into a raffle draw.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Cross-platform compatibility:</strong> Anyone can join using their desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones.</li></ul>

<h4>&nbsp;</h4><h4>PROCESS<br>&nbsp;</h4><h5><strong>Creating a Seamless User Experience</strong></h5><p>The first phase of development involved creating a user persona to understand the goals of the users in the Hearts &amp; Hands event. As we dived deeper into the user's journey, we explored possible user flows to form a more curated experience.</p><p>During the prototyping process, we performed user testing virtually with healthcare assistants and educators to get their feedback, helping us make improvements in accessibility and the overall user experience.</p><p><br>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Increasing Engagement Using Gamification</strong></h5><p>The point system was a central driver of engagement in the event. We designed a point system which awarded participants points for completing different activities, such as watching presentations, interacting with learning content, and completing trivia quizzes.</p><p>Given that SafeCare BC was able to secure fabulous raffle prizes, it was especially enticing for participants to earn as many points as possible. This encouraged participants to complete every activity of each day of the multi-day event, and come back the next day for new content. Participants were then notified of newly unlocked content via our integrated instant messaging feature.</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The finished product was a beautiful, polished app that led to the successful execution of the Hearts &amp; Hands 2020 event. Over 700 healthcare assistants, industry professionals, and business executives from across British Columbia registered for the event.<br><br>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

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Supporting Virtual Conferences

Hearts and Hands

<h5><span style="color:#014CB2;">We made an innovative mobile app that helps persons living with dementia feel comforted during times of distress.</span></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>This mobile app is a collaborative healthcare research project, where Raccoopack Media team worked with leading Canadian academic institutions to develop What Matters: a mobile application that improves the quality of dementia care for Canadians.</p>

<h4>PROBLEM</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>76,000 new dementia cases are diagnosed each year. With Canada’s ageing population and increasing prevalence of dementia, nurses and care workers are overworked and often struggle to keep up their desired level of care. There is a critical need to develop solutions to support staff while continuing to advance the quality of care for persons living with dementia.</p><p>A major domain that the research project explored is distress and comfort. Patients with dementia living in long term care or hospitals may face agitating or distressful moments at times. During such times, staff need to intervene. This posed a question and opportunity: How do we offer comfort to patients during these to improve the quality of care?</p>

<h4>SOLUTION</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>What Matters is a mobile app that offers comfort during times of distress using personalized media from the patient’s family, friends, and staff.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Main Features</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li><strong>Personalized media viewing: </strong>Residents/patients can view videos, photos, and music that is personalized and curated by family and staff.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Resident directory:</strong> Staff can quickly find a resident’s profile.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Resident profile:</strong> Each resident/patient has their own profile. Staff can view information about the resident, such as what brings them joy and their interests.<br>&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Media liking:</strong> Residents/patients can like or dislike each piece of media. This helps staff understand the media that is relevant.</li></ul>

<h4>PROCESS</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Co-Designing with the End Users</strong></p><p>To design an application that is meaningful for the end-users, it is important to work closely with them during the design process.</p><p>During this step, Raccoopack Media worked with a number of leading academic institutions to codesign the mobile app with patient partners. This includes designing with hospital staff, patients living with dementia, and their family. We provided consulting on the technical aspects of the app, such as defining the main requirements of features, and providing guidance on the development process.<br><br>Along the way, we participated in a number of workshops facilitated by talented designers at Emily Carr to carefully understand the needs of the users. To adapt to the challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, we leveraged online technologies such as Zoom to meet during these workshops.</p>

<h5><strong>Prototyping and Implementing Insights</strong></h5><p>After working together to create initial designs, the next step was prototyping. The Raccoopack Media development team produced a series of app prototypes in each sprint. Each prototype includes an increment of features, while incorporating feedback from the users.</p><p>This approach has the advantage of involving the end users during each step of the way. After each prototype was ready, user tests were performed, where both staff and patients had the opportunity to use the app together and provide feedback.</p><p>The user tests led to transformative outcomes to improve the design of the app. One notable insight we discovered was that some patients preferred to swipe to view videos or photos as opposed to tapping on a button. This change allowed us to create an experience that is accessible for all types of users.</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>From successful communication and collaborative efforts between Raccoopack Media and the project partners, the result was a prototype that received highly positive feedback:</p><ul><li>Staff observed a significantly higher rate of engagement with patients</li><li>Staff rated it as very easy to navigate the app and select patient profiles</li><li>Patients felt comforted by the personalized content from the app curated by family and staff</li></ul><p>This is only the first step in the What Matters project! After a clinical trial phase and further study, the What Matters app will undergo further development for commercial use in hospital and long term care home settings.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

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Patient Care App for Hospitals

Patient Care for Hospitals

What Matters

<h5><span style="color:#6C7D2E;">The Parts Tracker App drastically reduces lost parts and saves 1000+ production hours each year.</span></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>We developed the Parts Tracker App, a responsive web application that actively updates and tracks the location of parts inside a manufacturing factory.</p>

<h4>PROBLEM</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Growth in a manufacturing business comes with logistical challenges. When there are thousands of moving parts, excessive overhead hours are spent on tracking their movement from location to location. What if we create a web app that shows where parts are located at all times?</p><p>Kekuli Bay Cabinetry, one of the largest Canadian cabinet manufacturers in British Columbia, needed a digital solution for managing the information of cabinetry parts. There are many off-the-shelf technologies available in the market to support this need. However, these systems are often bloated with unnecessary features, and are not a cost-effective solution in the long term.</p>

<h4>SOLUTION</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Parts Tracker App is a responsive, user-friendly web application that efficiently tracks the location of parts inside a factory at all times:<br>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>QR code scanning to update the locations of parts<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Search, view, and export information of parts<br>&nbsp;</li><li>User accounts and login<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Custom admin panel for creating, managing, and viewing parts<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Mobile, tablet, and desktop compatibility</li></ul>

<h4>PROCESS</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><h5><strong>Embracing User-Centered Design</strong></h5><p>With any project at Raccoopack Media, we begin by understanding the needs of the users and their objectives. To accomplish this, we interviewed managers and employees at Kekuli Bay Cabinetry, taking time to map out their day-to-day business processes. This allowed us to clarify the detailed app requirements, such as the types of information that need to be tracked, steps involved in scanning parts, and core features of the app.</p><p>Simplicity, efficiency, and intuitiveness were identified as the design pillars of the app. Following these pillars, we created a minimalistic yet highly functional design, which allows the user experience to be focused on the input and reading of information.</p>

<h5><strong>Optimizing the User Experience</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><p>During the development of the app, we conducted remote user testing sessions with a group of 10 employees to understand whether the app meets the criteria of being easy to use. We observed how users would interact with the app, noting down opportunities to enhance the user experience. By ensuring that the app is intuitive and easy to use, we generate further cost savings for our client, namely from time saved in training and troubleshooting.</p><p>After conducting user testing, we analyzed the resulting testing data, and gained valuable insights on how to take the intuitiveness factor one level higher. For example, we discovered that employees needed more time to view pop-up messages, and we fine-tuned the durations accordingly.<br>&nbsp;</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong></h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>By following a high level standard of user-centered design, we were able to deliver a seamless and smooth part scanning experience across mobile and tablet devices. Employees can easily scan and update the location of parts, while managers can quickly retrieve and locate the parts with a click of a button.</p><p>The Parts Tracker application will provide cascading advantages for Kekuli Bay Cabinetry: Time saved, cost savings in parts, and faster fulfillment time of customer orders.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image"><img alt="Metrics (1).png" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/deno14mx1/image/upload/v1693328178/Metrics_1_bfc69091bc.png" srcset="https://res.cloudinary.com/deno14mx1/image/upload/v1693328178/thumbnail_Metrics_1_bfc69091bc.png 245w, https://res.cloudinary.com/deno14mx1/image/upload/v1693328178/small_Metrics_1_bfc69091bc.png 500w, https://res.cloudinary.com/deno14mx1/image/upload/v1693328178/medium_Metrics_1_bfc69091bc.png 750w, https://res.cloudinary.com/deno14mx1/image/upload/v1693328178/large_Metrics_1_bfc69091bc.png 1000w" sizes="100vw" width="1000"></figure><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

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Parts Management App to Speed up Production

Kekuli Bay Cabinetry

<h5><span style="color:#249CA5;">Weaving intricate bracelets can be complex – Let’s reduce the learning curve with guided tutorials on an interactive tablet app.</span><br>&nbsp;</h5><p>We worked with Spicebox Product Development to bring an outdated app up to speed with modern tablet devices, resolving hundreds of bugs and issues in the process.</p>

<h4>PROBLEM</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The i-loom app provides guided tutorials on weaving bracelets on tablets, and is complimentary with the purchase of the physical loom. In the past, this app was praised with a highly positive reception. However, as years passed, user ratings declined due to issues with bugs and incompatibility with newer devices.</p><p>Spicebox recently acquired this product, and wanted to improve the app’s user experience prior to a product relaunch. As Raccoopack Media is experienced with app development for education and training, Spicebox reached out to us to revitalize i-loom app.</p>

<h4>SOLUTION</h4><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The goal of the project is to update and optimize the i-loom app for iOS and Android devices, including a relaunch to the App Store and Play Store. After we mapped out the problem space, the next step was to identify and prioritize the issues that were essential for a successful launch.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>From our analysis, we created a list of the most important issues to address:</p><p>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Migrating the project from Unity 5 to Unity 2018<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Updating Unity asset packs to resolve compatibility issues<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Repairing a freezing iOS tutorial<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Updating the Android QR code scanner&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Fixing launch critical bugs</li></ul>

<h4><strong>PROCESS</strong><br>&nbsp;</h4><h5><strong>Collaborative Problem-Solving</strong></h5><p>At the beginning of the project, an obstacle our team had encountered was a lack of access to a working version of the app. This resulted in guesswork on how some features had performed, which involved many uncertainties.</p><p>Fortunately, our agile processes enabled us to address this challenge by using frequent client communication. By brainstorming with Spicebox, we quickly discovered that the previous developer had some past footage of the app. We coordinated with Spicebox to secure the necessary information throughout the project, which paved the path for our team to recreate and repair the app’s most important features.</p>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Profile:</strong> Before vs After Rework</p>

<p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Colour Palette:</strong> Before vs After Rework</p>

<h4><strong>RESULTS</strong><br>&nbsp;</h4><p>From our consistent efforts, we were able to successfully bring the i-loom app into modern times. The app, once plagued with bugs and compatibility issues, is now able to run smoothly on iOS and Android tablet devices:<br>&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Launch-ready state for App Store and Play Store<br>&nbsp;</li><li>Upgraded app project to Unity 2018<br>&nbsp;</li><li>1000+ broken references resolved<br>&nbsp;</li><li>100+ missing scripts repaired<br><br>&nbsp;</li></ul><h5><strong>As we are continuing to work with SpiceBox post-launch to develop more exciting features to the i-loom app, stay tuned for more updates on this case study!&nbsp;</strong></h5><p>&nbsp;</p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p>

WORKS