Sea Savers - AR Climate Visualizer

Sea-level rise poses a serious threat to coastal cities and ecosystems worldwide, yet many young adults struggle to emotionally grasp its urgency. While climate change information is widely available, much of it is presented in abstract or data-heavy formats that fail to create personal relevance or motivate behavioral reflection. As a result, awareness does not consistently translate into engagement or action. How might we help young adults visualize the future impact of sea-level rise in a way that feels personal, engaging, and motivating rather than distant or overwhelming?

Explored how interactive and playful digital experiences—particularly those native to social media—could help younger users better understand sea-level rise and reflect on how their everyday habits contribute to environmental impact. Through a 5-designer team collaboration (Team Cuties), we researched educational content from National Geographic and Verge Science, conducted lightning demos of related projects, and identified social media quiz filters as a powerful interaction pattern. Initially aimed to build with Spark AR but pivoted to p5.js due to technical limitations and documentation gaps. This pivot allowed us to simulate head-gesture interactions using machine-learning libraries while maintaining the intended interactive experience. Conducted two rounds of user testing to validate emotional impact, interaction clarity, and information retention.

Interactive AR Prototype Flow

Complete user flow showing the AR quiz experience: intro screen with "Play Now" → quiz question with head-gesture selection → lifestyle choice feedback → progressive sea-level rise visualization → final "Game Over" screen showing full environmental impact. This demonstrates how users see the water level rise in real-time as they answer questions about their daily habits, creating an emotional connection to climate change through personalized AR visualization.

Delivered a working AR-style prototype where users answer lifestyle-based questions and watch sea levels rise in real time around them. Approximately 75% of users reported increased awareness of sea-level rise after the experience. Users recalled more than 50% of daily habit impacts discussed in the quiz. Emotional visualization proved more effective than text-based explanation alone. The project successfully demonstrated how immersive, lightweight AR experiences can bridge the gap between climate awareness and emotional understanding—especially for younger, social-media-native audiences. Key insight: Visualization creates empathy faster than information alone.

AR Experience Demo

Pretotype demonstration testing how AR filters would be used in the Sea Savers climate experience. Users answer lifestyle questions through an interactive quiz interface and watch water levels rise in real-time, creating emotional connection to climate consequences. This p5.js pretotype validated the AR head-gesture interaction concept before full development.