AR-Enabled Inspection Tool Design for Gillette Stadium

Project Summary: Led the design of an AR-enabled quality inspection tool for Gillette Stadium gate personnel, transforming a slow, physical bag measuring process into an intuitive mobile experience. By combining computer vision with clear interaction patterns, the solution accelerated checkpoint throughput and improved consistency in enforcement while aligning with existing stadium branding and high-traffic event workflows.

My Role: Product & UX Strategy / Experience Architecture (IA) / Interaction & Visual Design / Prototyping & Validation

Owned the end-to-end experience design, balancing operational constraints, branding requirements, and real-world usage conditions in a high-traffic environment.

Gate security processes at high-traffic events created bottlenecks, frustration, and inconsistent enforcement of bag policies. Staff needed a tool that reduced cognitive overhead, standardized decisions, and minimized queue times without disrupting operational flow or adding complexity to peak-volume shifts.

Increase efficiency at entrance checkpoints

Reduce variability in bag inspections and decision outcomes

Increase staff confidence in technology-assisted compliance

Improve guest experience by shortening wait times

Execution focused on translating a high-pressure, physical security workflow into a fast, reliable mobile experience. Through iterative research, prototyping, and user testing, the design leveraged AR and computer vision to reduce interpretation, surface clear decision cues, and support consistent enforcement during peak event conditions. Design decisions were validated against real operational constraints to ensure usability, trust, and performance in live environments.

Impact Metrics below: Based on comparative usability testing, stakeholder analytics review, tool reporting, and user satisfaction surveys.

Strategy Insight: Rather than simply digitizing the manual process, the experience was designed to reduce cognitive friction for high-stress, time-sensitive checkpoints. Augmented Reality and CV were leveraged not for novelty, but to surface critical measurement cues, reduce user interpretation errors, and embed procedural consistency. This focus balanced automation with user agency, avoiding over-automation that could undermine trust.

What Was Intentionally Simplified: The experience was streamlined to a minimal set of actions and visual cues, prioritizing fast decision-making over detailed configuration or secondary features.

What Was Postponed: Advanced analytics and performance reporting were deferred until real-world usage data could validate long-term value without distracting from core operational needs.

What Was Not Built: Highly customizable workflows and role-based interfaces were intentionally excluded to avoid increasing cognitive load and inconsistency during peak-traffic operations.

1. Prioritize Speed Over Feature Depth: Design decisions focused on enabling fast, repeatable actions in high-traffic environments. The experience was optimized for rapid task completion rather than feature exploration or customization.

2. Reduce Interpretation, Not Just Steps: The interface was designed to minimize subjective judgment by surfacing clear, visual cues through AR and computer vision, reducing the need for users to interpret measurements manually.

3. Balance Automation With User Trust: Automation was introduced to assist, not override, human decision-making. The experience maintained user agency by making system feedback visible and understandable rather than opaque.

4. Design for Real-World Constraints: Interaction patterns accounted for environmental variability, device handling, and time pressure, ensuring usability in live event conditions rather than idealized scenarios.

The final solution combined AR, computer vision, and a streamlined mobile interface to support fast, consistent bag inspections at stadium entry points. Designed to match Gillette Stadium’s existing mobile ecosystem, the experience reduced cognitive load, accelerated decision-making, and integrated seamlessly into live event operations.

This project reinforced that strong design in operational, high-pressure environments comes down to reducing choice, not adding features. Simplicity must be coupled with context awareness, delivering the right cue, at the right time, with minimal friction. It also helped me refine how to collaborate with development and product teams to balance automated assistance with user trust.

“What really stood out, though, was her ability to quickly onboard mid-project when we needed coverage, seamlessly picking up where another designer left off. That’s no small feat, but they handled it with confidence and efficiency. Beyond her skills, she was a fantastic teammate. Always willing to share knowledge and collaborate to make the work stronger. Any team would be lucky to have her!”