MycoMap

Duration: |; February–May 2024
Role: |; Visual & UI Designer
Focus: |; Mobile Game Design · Visual & UI Design

Overview

MycoMap is a citizen science mobile game that encourages Scottish teenagers to explore the Dava Way and contribute to environmental data collection through mushroom identification and playful challenges.

Challenge

The Dava Way Association needed greater public engagement and participation, within limited resources.

Goal

Create an engaging outdoor learning experience that invites young people to explore the trail.

Approach

Connect real mushroom observations with guided identification, playful challenges and social interaction.

Solution

A mobile game and physical trail board that turn mushroom discovery into an approachable citizen science activity.

Visual style

The mushroom companion became rounder and easier to recognise. The purple fantasy palette came from students’ co-design preferences.

Creature illustrations used as visual references for the mushroom companion

Nine purple mushroom companion variations explored before the final character

Exploratory pencil sketches for the mushroom monster — Early character sketches.

Final mushroom monster character with a purple and mint cap — Refined companion character.

Background story

Players help the companion find and purify infected mushroom friends through identification. Competition and cooperation build purification power and unlock rewards.

Fantasy woodland before purification, with dark mushroom silhouettes — Before purification

Fantasy woodland after purification, with glowing purple mushrooms — After purification

Instructions

A short tutorial shows beginners how to photograph a mushroom from several angles.

Identification

Visual questions about shape, colour, size and habitat lead to a proposed identification and an observation record.

Tutorial explaining how to photograph a mushroom from the front, top and bottom

Camera guidance confirms the correct mushroom angle

Visual puzzle: choose the shape of the mushroom stem

Observation record with photographs and location, ready for identification

Camera interface for reviewing mushroom photographs

Review and upload the observation photographs

Select the habitat where the mushroom was found

Review a proposed identification before submission

Mushroom companion congratulates the player after photographing a mushroom

The identification concept was designed to support careful observation; scientific accuracy was not validated.

Reward & competition

Rankings, badges and quests show progress. A timed challenge invites players to find and record mushrooms together or compete for rewards.

Player rankings and achievement leaderboard

Competition invitation showing the opponent and potential rewards

Photographing a mushroom during a timed competition

Time is up: upload the competition observations

Summary of mushrooms recorded during a challenge

Personal QR code for connecting with friends

Map with a visual sticker palette for discoveries

Sharing a sticker with a friend on the map

Reporting a trail problem with visual categories and location

Friends & communication

Players can invite friends and receive updates about their discoveries, rewards and progress.

Stickers instead of text

Visual stickers let players share finds and report trail problems to the Dava Way Association.

Laser cutting the physical game board — Making the board prototype.

Original mushroom matching board design and construction drawing — Mushroom shapes become a simple matching interaction.

Wooden Dava Way board with sliding mushroom pieces and a QR code — A tangible touchpoint designed for the trail.

Interactive game board

The proposed waterproof wooden board offers a low-cost, physical invitation to play. A QR code reveals the matching answers and introduces the app.

Phone mockup showing mushroom matching answers and an invitation to download MycoMap

Storyboard

Concept Film

The video explains the app's features and usage scenarios in more details.

MycoMap's complete research and design timeline, from understanding the brief and interviewing students through co-design, prototyping, user testing and reflection

06 / Discover / Desk & field research

Start with the place and its people.

Understanding the Dava Way

The 24-mile route follows the former Highland Railway between Forres and Grantown-on-Spey, passing farmland, woodland and moorland. The Dava Way Association maintains it through volunteer effort, donations and grants.

Our brief connected three needs: more engagement with the trail, an educational experience for young people, and simple ways to collect environmental data.

Woodland and railway viaduct pictured in the Dava Way context research

Where citizen science fits

Citizen science involves members of the public in research. We considered both scientist-led data collection and projects shaped collaboratively with participants.

Contributory model

Scientists define the project → volunteers contribute data → researchers analyse observations.

Collaborative / co-created model

Participants and researchers shape the project together ↔ share knowledge, observations and decisions.

Fieldwork made the constraints tangible

On-site observations, an interview with Malcolm Campbell, and conversations with passers-by surfaced practical concerns alongside the trail’s natural appeal.

Team field research along the wooded Dava Way

Outdoor stakeholder conversation during Dava Way fieldwork

Research team interviewing Malcolm Campbell around a table — Interview with Malcolm Campbell.

Resources are limited

Funding and volunteers constrain maintenance, publicity and new installations.

Access needs attention

Uneven surfaces, puddles, fallen trees and unclear entrances affect the walking experience.

Preserve what matters

Visitors valued the railway history and natural environment, alongside smoother and wider paths.

07 / Understand / Student session 01 · 13 February

Meet them through what they already love.

We asked about everyday routines, hobbies, outdoor activities and their understanding of nature, then analysed the interviews thematically.

Games sparked enthusiasm

Students noticed monster stickers and mentioned Pokémon. Competition, social play and fresh experiences offered useful starting points.

Nature felt less familiar

Interviews suggested limited knowledge of species and little regular outdoor participation beyond walking or cycling near home.

Friends influence participation

Peer influence and online media shaped game choices. A shared experience could create an invitation to explore.

Thematic synthesis of student interviews and original research notes — Interview analysis: outdoor activity, games, education and motivation.

Original illustrated portrait used in the Kieran research persona

Research persona / Kieran

Fresh experiences.
Friends. A good game.

The team’s 13-year-old persona represents a student in Lossiemouth who enjoys video games and social competition, walks or cycles near home, and has limited motivation for other outdoor activities.

A research synthesis, not an individual participant profile.

Game analysis mapping genres to competition, storytelling, creativity and social atmosphere

Mind map connecting nature observation, young game players and the Dava Way’s needs

08 / Define / Finding the opportunity

Why mushrooms? Why a game?

Comparing possible observation subjects
Subject	Potential	Constraint
People	Counts and activity records are accessible.	A weaker connection to the trail’s natural environment.
Animals	Diverse habitats offer interesting species.	Harder to find and photograph; seasonal availability varies.
Plants & fungi	Accessible observation, classification and seasonal records.	Many plants change slowly; mushrooms offer more variation in place and condition.
Water, air & soil	Environmental status can be recorded.	Less visible variation for the proposed discovery activity.

Why mushrooms?

The team found them abundant, easier to photograph than animals, and variable across seasons and weather. Their unpredictable appearance suggested a treasure hunt.

Why a mobile game?

A phone could combine photographs, location, instructions and social play. The Association’s limited budget and technical skills favoured a shareable digital concept.

Why gamification?

Students’ enthusiasm for games suggested a way to make unfamiliar observation tasks inviting through visual puzzles, competition and rewards.

Match the science to beginner capabilities

Mushrooms matter as decomposers and plant partners, while gaps in fungal data make observation valuable. We focused on field records: time and location, size, photographs from several angles, growth stage and habitat. Laboratory analysis and microscopy sit beyond this beginner experience.

Location & timePhotos & measurementsHabitat & growth stageExpert analysis beyond the game

The research considered public platforms including FunDiS, Mushroom Observer and iNaturalist. These were references for possible data sharing, not implemented integrations.

Pokémon GO

The team valued its characters, rewards and outdoor discovery, while recognising the risk of screen immersion drawing attention away from the environment.

Spirits of Realms

Its recording process and backstory informed the concept. The team wanted stronger player interaction and more approachable classification for beginners.

09 / Explore / Ideation

Three different ways into nature.

The team explored several interaction models before using the next workshop to shape the direction.

01 / Emotional visualisation

A wearable device would translate contact with plants into expressions on an LED display while collecting environmental readings.

02 / A musical trail

Mushroom bioelectric signals would become music, building a personal soundtrack for the Dava Way journey.

03 / Competitive discovery

Players would photograph and upload mushroom observations within a set place and time, competing with one another.

These were early concepts. Competitive discovery offered a direction to explore through mushroom matching, genre choices and storytelling with students.

10 / Co-design / Student session 02 · 5 March

Let students shape the adventure.

We returned with mushroom matching activities, game genre choices and storytelling cards to understand both comprehension and motivation.

Mushroom picture cards used for the matching activity

Illustrated creature cards used as workshop story prompts

Illustrated story sequence made for the workshop

Hand-drawn story cards created by students

Collaborative story board with character, event and object prompts

Student worksheet marking favourite game genres

Students drawing and arranging story cards during co-design

Workshop map of the Dava Way with drawings and story materials

Start with matching

Students matched similar mushrooms and chose preferred game genres. Colour drew attention; complex illustrations were harder to distinguish.

Build a story together

Event, object and character cards helped students create stories around mushroom discovery on the Dava Way.

What students brought into the design
Insight	Design decision
Pictures held attention more than text.	Visual identification puzzles and sticker communication.
Fantasy, heroic roles and supernatural stories appealed.	A mushroom companion and a story about rescuing infected friends.
Competition and player interaction were engaging.	Competitive discovery alongside cooperative and social play.
Rewards could motivate participation.	Badges, rankings, progression and special challenges.

11 / Prototype / From insights to interaction

Give the adventure a clear structure.

We organised the experience around the citizen science sequence, then connected it to rewards, character progression and friends.

Information architecture

Game flow from finding a mushroom to collecting information, uploading, rewards and character upgrades — Observation and reward flow

Early tutorial wireframes with step-by-step photo guidance — Tutorial

Early wireframes for the tutorial and visual mushroom identification — Identification

Low-fidelity competitive gameplay screens — Gameplay

Low-fidelity friends and map sticker communication screens — Friends & social interaction

12 / Validate / Student session 03 · 23 April

Return to students. Refine what matters.

We tested low-fidelity interactions and hands-on activities at Lossiemouth High School to examine understanding, gameplay and visual preferences.

Students testing mushroom silhouette matching with photograph cards

01 / Match & identify

Matching mushroom silhouettes to photographs tested the observation skills used in identification.

Students searching for hidden mushrooms in an illustration

02 / Find & compete

A timed search for hidden mushrooms explored competitive discovery.

Three-dimensional paper forest model used in the relay activity

Students testing a relay game around the paper forest

03 / Share & collaborate

Passing mushroom locations between players simulated sharing discoveries in the app.

Mushroom monster variations shown during visual preference testing

Visual moodboard used to discuss preferred interface styles

04 / Navigate & choose

Students tried the low-fidelity prototype and chose preferred character and visual styles.

Favourite parts

Competition, the mushroom monster and social features.

Suggestions

More colour and a clearer return button.

What changed

We used this feedback to refine the visual style and navigation.

See the final UI ↑

Original student usability questionnaires with identifying fields redacted in the source

13 / Reflection

What comes next

Team presenting the MycoMap concept to project stakeholders

Students’ feedback shaped the visual identity, identification puzzles and social features. The Dava Way’s remote location remains a barrier for younger visitors, so encouraging visits would require support beyond the game.

Future versions could explore more species, places, age groups and seasonal activities. Long-term participation and data quality still need to be tested.

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