{"id":4353,"date":"2016-11-08T14:16:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-08T14:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marvel7077.wpengine.com\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2020-09-22T09:15:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T08:15:21","slug":"design-practices-virtual-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shopjessicabuckley.com\/blog\/design-practices-virtual-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"Design Practices in Virtual Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

The technology of virtual reality (VR)<\/a> has been gaining traction, however there is an absence of methods and best practices when designing for it. In my bachelor\u2019s project I am focusing on the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) opportunities and problems created by the technology of virtual reality.<\/p>\n

Historically digital interfaces, have been crafted to suit the hardware requirements of 2D screens. Designers have been fitting content and navigation inside the frames of displays, translating our real world experiences to icons and other UI elements (Bill Moggridge, 2007). Bloating the virtual environment with 2D elements ruins the immersion that VR offers. Designing for VR should not mean transferring 2D practices to 3D, but finding a new paradigm.<\/p>\n

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\"Designing for VR should not mean transferring 2D practices to 3D, but finding a new paradigm.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

The foundation of my research is based on the literature exploring human perception and environment, such as The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception<\/a> by James J. Gibson, Inquiry by Design<\/a> by John Zeisel or The Poetics of Space<\/a> by Gaston Bachelard. Although the core literature of environmental psychology was written in the 70\u2019s, the knowledge is entirely applicable to virtual reality.<\/p>\n

Designers should expand their expertise to different fields, such as psychology, architecture, sound design, lighting design and physics, in order to be able to create fully controlled experiences, guiding users in VR by shaping the virtual environment in such way.<\/p>\n

In my project I am designing and developing a single VR experience, proposing solutions to these problems within a neutral virtual environment in the form of use cases (in a similar manner to Google in their Cardboard Design Lab app<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The following use cases cover only a portion of the wide variety of new interactions and solutions VR offers. The simultaneously emerging technology of mixed reality (MR) will also open up new possibilities. Although there are overlaps in terms of UI and UX design between VR and MR, each of these technologies demand fresh approaches from designers.<\/p>\n

The future of this medium depends on the content created for it. Most of the current VR experiences are bare simulations of real life, but after the dust settles from the boom of the new technology, content will adapt to the specifications of the medium. This upcoming phase will again require new design solutions, but for now we need to focus on creating firm foundations to build upon.<\/p>\n

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\"The future of this medium depends on the content created for it.\"<\/p><\/span><\/blockquote>\n

Design solutions for VR<\/h2>\n

Role of the ground<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen a pilot is in the clouds there is nothing to see outside the plane, and it can be very disorienting. When the pilot comes out of the clouds and sees the ground and sky meeting at the horizon, the pilot can orient\u201d (James J. Gibson, 2015, p. 19). Users can find themselves in such situation in poorly designed VR experiences, causing inevitable motion sickness. The ground to horizon relationship is as important in VR as in our physical reality.<\/p>\n

\"ground-to-horizon-relationship\"<\/p>\n

Atmosphere<\/h3>\n

Atmospheric (aerial) perspective can help users to understand the scale of the virtual environment, therefore making the experience more natural. The concept of this phenomenon is simple: \u201cThe farther away an object is, the more air and particles we have to look trough, making objects that are farther away look less sharp and bluer than close objects\u201d (E. Bruce Goldstein, 2013, p. 230). This gradual fading of the landscape is a clear cue for depth and distance.<\/p>\n

\"atmospheric-perspective\"

Masaccio using atmospheric perspective in order to create the illusion of depth.<\/p><\/div>\n

Terrain features<\/h3>\n

James J. Gibson in his book The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception<\/a> (p. 62) breaks down terrain features into 8 main categories.<\/p>\n