2025 · Graduation project
Huddle
An AR viewing service that turns the sound of a live game into visual and tactile cues for Deaf and Hard of Hearing fans.
Overview
Huddle began with a question about access: “How do we show the sound of the game?” It grew into one about belonging: “How do they share the moment?”
Outcome. An AR prototype, built with Seoul SK Knights and the Deaf community organisations aud and SWITH, that brings game information, crowd emotion, and communication into the same moment. It was tested with visitors at the Hongik University Industrial Design graduation show.
Context
In an arena, sound carries both the game and the crowd.
The whistle and announcements carry what is happening in the game. The roar of the crowd carries how it feels. Our first question, how to show that sound, looked only at the first half. Huddle was our graduation project at Hongik University, made with Seoul SK Knights and two Deaf community organisations, aud and SWITH Social Cooperative.
Research
A year in the community showed where the gap really was.
We spent a year volunteering and attending cultural events with Deaf community organisations, and followed fans through live SK Knights games. Across 50+ survey responses and 10 interviews with users and experts, 89.5% named accessibility, not the content itself, as the deciding factor when choosing entertainment.
Service analysis
We mapped where information breaks during a game.
Competitor analysis and a service blueprint showed which moments depend on sound, and where a new service could step in.
Competitor analysis
Sports platforms and XR services, compared on how they deliver game information, live participation, and interaction.
Service blueprint
Before the game, watching, cheering, and after the game: each stage's actions, information flow, and pain points.
Synthesis
Notes from every interview and visit became a short list of needs.
Data documentation
Interviews, field notes, and stakeholder meetings, organised into user requirements and opportunities.
Insight framing
Affinity mapping and journey analysis turned the notes into the pain points and opportunities that shaped the features.
Voices
Participants described the gap in their own words.
“I want to react together, not after.” “Captions help me understand, not belong.” “It's impossible to sign during a game.”
Reframe
From showing the sound to sharing the moment
How do we show the sound of the game?
How do they share the moment, through information, emotion, and communication together?
Feature design
Four features, prioritised from the viewing journey.
User scenarios and the game-day journey set the priorities, and each feature was sketched as an AR interaction before it was built.
- 01
Live game information
Scores, fouls, and key calls, shown the moment they happen.
- 02
Cheer timing alerts
A cue when the crowd is about to cheer, so fans can join in, not follow after.
- 03
Crowd atmosphere, made visible
The energy of the arena, shown as shared visual emotion.
- 04
Key-moment highlights
The plays everyone reacts to, easy to catch again.
Product solution
An AR interface that shares the moment through sight and touch.
Visual and haptic cues carry what sound usually does, with gestures instead of speech.
Information Sync
Game situations and key signals, visualised in real time over the court.
Emotional Sync
Crowd reactions and cheering data, shown as emotion bubbles across the arena.
Communication
Simple gestures to react and join the crowd, no sound or signing needed mid-game.
Product validation
Tested with visitors at the 2025 Hongik University Graduation Exhibition.
Visitors experienced the prototype at the exhibition, helping us review and refine the interface and feature flow.
Reflection
Fans trusted data they could see, but what mattered most was cheering together.
Data-driven visuals built trust, and the heart of sports is the shared wish to cheer, more than any technology. The next test should tune the timing, intensity, and comfort of each cue in a real game.