Dipping in a toe or Going Full Belly Flop : Incorporating Augmented and Virtual Reality into the Design Process

It’s helpful to schedule training sessions with the team to acclimate everyone on how to best maximize your use of the technology. This could – and often should – include leveraging similar examples or test runs of the current project for your team to try out for themselves before any required constructive meeting.

4. Understand First Person Design

Just as in the real world, in AR/VR, users see things from a different perspective. The iterative and interactive nature of AR/VR allows each user to contribute to the environment in their own unique way. This feature is exciting, but it will be important to design the framework and boundaries for the environment rather than have it be endless. Too large and the team gets lost. Too small and you could wind up virtually tripping over each other.

5. Separate the Good from the Bad

Know the limitations of the team and when to supplement with outside help. Investing inquality content will make the experience of designing in AR/VR much more effective, more dynamic, and more memorable. Know your comfort level with creating content, and find the right partner with the right experience to help fill any gaps. The teaming requirements should tie directly back to the original objectives and how best to achieve them. 6. Mobile vs. Dedicated Environments

Adding a mobile platform to the mix requires additional levels of consideration. Will the mobile platform require interactivity, or will it be for viewing only along a prescribed path? Can it be viewed through a third-party app or will a new app need to be created? What operating system/s will it be available on? Mobile app developers will tell you that some of the biggest challenges are creating apps for multiple platforms and multiple versions of operating systems even on the exact same device.

Having controls outside of the AR/VR experience that would be necessary to contribute fluently in the design process will slow down the experience and make it less desirable at tool.

7. Duration and Timing of Delivery

Having realistic expectations of the development, setup, and delivery of the experience in order to get the most out of the design process is crucial. The best way to mitigate any learning curve or delays start with the above objectives being defined, the right technology being selected, and the right competent team assembled. This will not, however, absolve you of any delays or complications. Development of the tools to achieve the goals can take on average 12- 16 weeks for simple scenarios to as much as 3-6 months before design even begins. If set up in manageable time frame however, the benefits of leveraging this technology in the design process can produce benefits that no other method can achieve. The good news is this set up can parallel other initial developmental design processes or can be shared across multiple simultaneous projects.

8. The Environment for the Environment

Where the technology will be used is just as important as what the technology is. Mobile applications have the least number of controlled environments but offer the most flexibility, however, the output can be affected by the real-world environment (e.g. sunlight glare, ambient noise, poor acoustics in the space). AR in a dedicated enclosed controllable environment requires fixed items in the room, lighting control, and attention to color and pattern on surfaces to maximize the technology’s ability to display content.

Following these best practices can put your design project on a good path for success. I recommend starting off with unique aspects within a smaller project’s total design project so you can acclimate to the process and get a feel for how it will be beneficial.