Designing Virtual Reality Experiences
During the beginning of this semester, I was posed with a challenge to design an experience in Virtual Reality. I realized that even though the User Centered Design process remained the same, the design language which worked in a 2D space, did not necessarily hold true for a VR environment. This article talks about things we should keep in mind while designing VR experiences.
Body Presence
The experience must be designed keeping the user body presence in mind and be created so that the user is able to navigate a scene 360 degree. The experience must also change based on the eye level of the user. Is the user sitting? Is the user standing?
User Interactions / Gestures
Given that VR experiences are focused on taking the user to an alternate reality, these experiences must leverage the way users interact in the real world. For example, a user picks up an object and turns it using their hands in real life.
Voice
Having voice interactions in a virtual reality world means that there is a connection between physical world and the virtual world. However, the aim of the application might be to immerse a user completely in the virtual world. In such a case, having voice interactions would in some way mean that user still has a connection with their physical world which defeats the purpose of being in virtual reality. Also, it is hard to imagine a world where every single person in a room is having voice interactions in the virtual world. However, it might be justified to use voice interactions in a single person — single room interaction scenarios though they should not be the only way of interacting with the environment.
Information Architecture
Being in a 3D space provides much more freedom to designers to come up with innovative ways in which they can present menu choices to the user. Designers must not restrict themselves by using the same old menu hierarchical structures but think of ways to creatively present options to make decision making easier for users. Being context and spatial aware will be helpful in reducing clutter. Intuitive iconography instead of using text will make the experience more immersive.
Haptic Technology
Haptic communication recreates sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. Availability of controllers with VR headsets provides a range of possibilities to provide feedback to the user. Using vibrations to provide feedback to the user, especially when the user carries out a physical task in the virtual environment is important to simulate real-world feedback. For example, when a user keeps a cup on the table in real life, there is some sort of vibratory feedback involved which makes the user understand that cup has touched the table. This same kind of feedback mechanism must be leveraged to provide a more immersive experience.
Storytelling
Being in a Virtual Reality space means that the user is an actor now, like in their daily lives. As they take actions in their daily lives to immerse in their environment, users need to take actions in virtual space to immerse in virtual reality. Getting work done, crossing things off their to-do lists is what makes users perform actions in their daily life. So what motivation do people have to perform actions in virtual space? Compelling storytelling using an intelligent combination of gestures, lighting, shades, movements will make users intrigued to perform actions in virtual space.
PS: I know, I was supposed to talk about sports training in VR, however, due to numerous requests I received, I decided to take a detour and talk about designing Virtual Reality experiences. This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Stay tuned for my next article on challenges in designing virtual reality experiences.
