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Project
Interactive Paper
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Project origins
The best of analog and
digital marketing, combined.
Interactive Paper is an ad-tech product conceived by startup co-founders Raphael Besnier and Tobias Macke. With the look and feel of conventional paper, Interactive Paper can host digital content that is revealed through touch interactions when the user places their phone on it. This allows for active, exciting marketing experiences that companies like Google, Samsung, and Pfizer have used to stay in touch with their customers, present new products in a memorable way, deliver interactive invitations to events with RSVP capabilities, and much more.
Inspired by the idea of giving ad viewers an active and exciting role in the advertising experience, I joined Interactive Paper in 2021 as Product Engineer. For two years there, I led the latest updates of the product, and I also introduced a low-cost option for interactive advertising to accommodate the needs of customers with smaller budgets.
The Interactive Paper experience
When someone receives an Interactive Paper in their mailbox, the first thing they see is the printed marketing content that the company has prepared for them — much like they would do when receiving a traditional flyer, invitation, letter, etc. Nonetheless, at the end of the page, they will notice a prominent sign that invites them to turn the paper over. On the other side, the magic starts: the recipient is invited to place their phone on a designated "placement area" and press any of the "buttons" that are shown right next to it. Depending on which button the user presses, different pieces of digital content will magically appear on their smartphone. With this, companies can take advantage of a medium that is physical (and thus can be held on to and reused by the recipient indefinitely), yet provides the interactive and data-rich capabilities of digital advertising.
Design challenge
iOS compatibility
For companies to effectively reach the totality of their target audience, it is imperative that the product's functionality does not depend on the recipient’s type of smartphone.
Interactive Paper uses NFC technology to work. However, many iPhone models have technical and design constraints to receive NFC signals seamlessly.
The way this had been addressed before my entry was by making iPhone users download an app to use the paper. However, many potential customers were not happy with the workaround, since they could not count on their audience searching and downloading new software from the App Store to watch promotional content. Furthermore, this app was still not capable of providing a solution for a group of iPhones that did not support NFC reception altogether.
The solution
An instantly accessible experience with smart press detection
Through technical research, we discovered the possibility of developing custom iPhone experiences that can be accessed by scanning a pattern on the paper with the phone's camera — thus avoiding the tedious process of going to the App Store to download an app.
Using Swift, I developed an experience that integrates a series of features to optimize the user journey regardless of the iPhone model: on iPhone models with limited NFC capabilities, it analyzes the phone’s accelerometer data to detect when the user is trying to press a button, using this as a cue to search for NFC signals and bring the right content. On non-NFC-capable iPhones, it checks the product's unique access code to show the interactive content right away.
iOS usage rates increased by 90% with this new feature, and iOS user sessions now outnumber those from Android devices.
Seeing through the vibrations
Inferring when the user is pressing a button based on the iPhone’s accelerometer data called for a major technical effort: the mechanical vibrations perceived by this sensor can greatly vary depending on many factors like the surface the phone is being placed on, the phone’s case, and how the user presses the button.
To overcome this, we implemented a calibration algorithm that analyzes how the phone's perceived acceleration varies over time when a button is pressed. The algorithm continuously improves by either validating or fine-tuning a set of calibration parameters every time the user interacts with the paper.
Design challenge
Usability
As a product for marketing and advertising, any friction in the process of getting the message across can result in smaller engagement rates.
Therefore, having the users understand what the Interactive Paper does and how to use it without giving them a long list of instructions was an essential product requirement.
One of the main challenges to achieve this was to make users understand that the buttons displayed on the paper were indeed interactive and meant to be pressed, since most users hadn't seen anything like this before. Additionally, we had to make clear that the user journey was not quite the same on iOS and Android, since iPhone users had to first scan the paper's unique code before using the paper.
The solution
A user-centric design update
We went through several feedback loops with potential users and customers to update the paper design and the software experience. To validate or discard each change, we ran user tests with people unfamiliar with the product — who volunteered at Cafes, Parks, and other public spaces. We also ran feedback sessions with current and potential customers.
After multiple prototypes and two official product updates, we came up with a set of Graphic Design and UX guidelines to ensure the Interactive Paper's audience quickly understands the product, all while still giving companies the freedom to convey their brand identity.
We also optimized the configuration of the internal circuits based on how people use the paper and how they place their phones on it, so the product provides faster response times.