Why Product Designers working in AR and VR need to go back to basics.

UX>AR/VR

So many augmented and virtual reality experiences to hit the market so far have been poor. There’s no escaping it, AR feels gimmicky still. It’s not, but whenever a new AR app or ad campaign launches that is purely using AR for the sake of AR we slip further in to the gimmick zone.

I get that UX Designers and Product Designers are faced with a completely new set of challenges when it comes to Augmented and Virtual reality as, much like the first few websites or smartphone apps, there is no best practices playbook or ‘100 best free mobile site templates for Sketch’ equivalent to download (yet). But why are we seeing more and more AR/VR experiences lacking in any real value?

Creating value and solving problems for your users are core fundamentals of product design. Digital product designers have adopted techniques like adding delighters, easter eggs and more to elicit emotion outside of the core value proposition due to crowded market places and the need to be loved by the user, not just used. But value is still the linchpin. So what’s made product designers for AR and VR get so sloppy?

At this point I can’t escape mentioning Pokemon GO (I know, I’m sick of hearing about it too.) If Pokemon GO is true AR according to the tech sector or not is irrelevant compared to if it is considered AR according to the general public, which it is, so it is. And that’s a good thing. Pokemon GO is first and foremost a mobile game. A game that AR simply enhances the experience for the user (you even have the option to turn off AR mode). But it still provides value and triggers emotion for a generation that grew up playing the game on a tiny black and white screen, dreaming of what it would be like to see a Charmander on your way to school and stop to catch it.

If Pokemon GO is validation that AR is a ‘thing’, then we’re definitely still waiting on VR’s defining moment. VR though is much more immersive, reliant on new hardware advances and completely different when it comes to creating a good user experience, but not value. Not solving problems.

We need to step away from creating more crappy VR or AR experiences for the sake of it and go back to focusing on problem solving and User Experience before we get lost in an inception-like gimmick-limbo.

ASK: “Can AR/VR provide a better experience or solution for the user than what is already here? No? Then let’s explore alternatives.”

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Greig Cranfield works at world leading New Zealand based AR product studio QuiverVision, trying to practice what he’s preaching.