From Insight to Prototype: Designing for Noda VR’s Virtual Frontier

With our comprehensive user research efforts in the rearview, it was time for the real magic to begin — transforming those hard-won insights into tangible design solutions that could elevate Noda VR to new heights of usability and delight. As the UX Designer on our team, this pivotal phase was my moment to truly shine.

After our in-depth user research, we had gathered a wealth of insights and identified various pain points that Noda VR users were experiencing. Each one of these issues uncovered during research represented an opportunity for us to innovate and improve the design of Noda’s user experience.

The Problem I focused on -

After reviewing all the findings, one key issue bubbled up as the prime candidate for a full-fledged redesign: frustrations around the initial onboarding process and usefulness of the interactive tour guide. Many users reported feeling confused or underwhelmed by their first experience exploring Noda’s virtual realm with the guidance provided.

Ideation Process -

The process began with sketching out rough, low-fidelity concepts for enhancing the onboarding flow. But these were no ordinary sketches confined to flat screens — I had the unique challenge of envisioning an immersive 3D experience. Nodes and menus floated in true spatial computing space. Virtual characters provided context with speech and gestures. Every exploratory doodle pushed the boundaries of conventional UI.

Initial design idea wireframes -

VR View

Energized by the concept’s potential, I turned my sketches into a high-fidelity visual overview — pulling together detailed design tiles that articulated the full scope of the AI virtual guide experience. This “solution pitch” covered the guide’s personality and proposed conversational interactions, outlined important tutorial flows, and even teased future possibilities like customization options.

Visual Designs

My concept poster is -

After this, worked on the detailed prototyping, created a design flow to explain my design idea and presented it.

A-Frame Prototype

With the visuals fleshed out, I kicked into high gear to build an interactive A-Frame prototype. Line-by-line, I coded out the virtual guide, tutorial scenes, menus, and core interactions. With each compile, my AI assistant sprang to life with new functionality — walking users through processes, reacting to their inputs, and overflowing with personality.

While not production-ready, this working prototype let me personally experience the proposed design approach in its full immersive reality. I could already feel the additive power of an intuitive spatial computing assistant holding our hands through new user onboarding.

VR Prototype Stage

Next step was to test the protoype

Here is the Usability testing plan.

First Prototype Test-

I tested protype on browser by sharing the prototype link with four users and I found the key insights are

1. Most users found the avatar guide useful for onboarding and understanding the app. — 4/5
2. Some users want to customize the avatar’s appearance and voice. — 2/5
3. Adding tutorials and practice opportunities could help users learn better. — 2/5
4. Enhancing animations could make the experience smoother. — 2/5

Recommendations -

1. Customizable Avatar: Allow users to personalize the avatar’s look, voice, and chattiness.
2. Interactive Challenges: Include hands-on tasks to help users practice mind mapping skills.
3. Visual Improvements: Enhance animations and add guides to reduce disorientation.

Changes -

Second Prototype Test -

After changing the avatar and adding the VR code to run this prototype in VR immersive environment, I tested the protoype in VR again and found following insights

Everything was far away couldn’t reach the avatar or buttons. and tour button sometimes in front of me at the bottom or above me. the button on tour guide window were not aligned to the window properly.

The avatar was very small and looking at other direction. The text was also at very long distance

After finding these issues — I worked on it and made the required changes. but there were glitch issues which I couldn’t resolve. those were in technical issues.

Third Prototype Test -

Participants -

I tested protype on browser by sharing the prototype link with five users and I found the key insights are

1. Text size is too large, requiring users to move their heads to read it fully. 3/5
2. Text placement should be within the user’s natural field of view. 3/5
3. The skip button sometimes disappears or is not clickable, indicating a glitch. 4/5
4. Users found the environment intuitive and easy to understand. 5/5
5. The tour guide and avatar concept was well-received and considered helpful. 5/5
6. The layout and visuals were appreciated as appealing and straightforward. 5/5

Recommendations -

1. Reposition and resize buttons for comfortable interaction.
2. Reduce text size and ensure it fits within the user’s natural field of view.
3. Resolve issues causing the skip button to disappear or become unclickable.
4. Add more micro-interactions and visual feedback, such as progress indicators.
5. Maintain the appealing design while optimizing the dynamic positioning of interactive elements based on user feedback.

From sketched scribbles to fully embodied code, this design journey exemplified the iterative powers of human-centered design for emerging technologies like VR and AI. User research insights catalyzed creative concepts which materialized into interactive prototypes built for genuine immersion in spatial computing environments.

While the virtual AI guide is still just one proposed solution amidst Noda’s infinite future potential, it has already accelerated my skills in crafting intuitive extended reality (XR) experiences that empower rather than confound users. With each pencil stroke and each line of code, I’ve leveled up my XR design prowess.

The road ahead will surely unveil new design challenges unique to these boundless virtual realms. But I’m energized by the prospect of forging uncharted trails in spatial computing. The future will belong to those unafraid to continually ideate, prototype, and immerse. And you can count me firmly among the vanguard for Noda VR’s boldly innovative path.