Designers throughout the world are trying to enhance and work on the usability and functionality of AR. Here we will see the different aspects of AR and the tools to create AR experience. Principles of AR cannot be left uncovered.
Augmented reality is a unique technology that has fantastic potential to provide an interactive and significant experience to the user. It is how an individual can augment the existing reality with digital objects. Augmented reality UX is the next big thing in the digital revolution – it is the solution to many of the past UX problems and the reason to increase the interaction. Augmented reality UX is the iteration in the existing world or the real world around us with the help of virtual elements that are blended and can be experienced with a smart device. Creating an experience with the augmented element is altogether a different experience; this is similar to unfolding the hidden secrets of the physical world. It’s the transformation of the serial thoughts into the real world.
Augmented reality UX with the upcoming devices is a perfect example of the line between imagination – it is the future aid to medical science, to teachers, to interior designers. Augmented reality UX gives immense power to all professionals to change the physical reality to the changes and alternatives, and alter and examine things with the additional information.
The most affected segment of augmented reality UX is the entertainment segment, where AR is fully supportive of the entertainment segment as there are thousands of applications have been developed. It’s fun to see your character animation doing precisely what you are doing on the playground, or maybe you wish to take a selfie with Ironman, or Captain America or Black Widow for that matter.
Wearable technologies are additional support to AR, an exciting way in which it can be. Visual Input Authorised Wearable technology can enhance not just workers efficiency but also work satisfaction; this is possible because of AR-enabled wearables. augmented reality UX is very beneficial in pick-and-place situations, where operators can retain their hands-free, and their eyes concentrate on the job responsibility at hand. AR system strengthens the right judgment. However, in such scenarios, the learning curve is very short as people can easily communicate with devices by Voice and visual guidance.
User experience in AR
As a user experience designer, it is essential to understand the core concept of experience and create an interaction that a user can feel where we aim to reduce the cognitive load of the user and make users happy with surprises. A vital element of the user experience is to make the user’s task easy, e.g. scanning a QR code through your phone’s camera shows the necessary details of the account where to transfer the amount.
Augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality are some of the most trending technological fields. And as such, professionals with the expertise of all these skill sets are in high demand. Augmented reality UX is a vacuum which needs more creative mind to enhance it further.
If we do our technical analysis and in the light of Moore law, it is very much clear that the computing power is going to change drastically. When we talk about computing power, we must anticipate the arrival of quantum computing technology in the primary market. It will boost the confidence of the creators for such technological platforms and pave the way for augmented reality UX.
Augmented reality app design
Designing Augmented reality UX is also an exciting field, where we need to blend in the 3d designs with physical reality. There are several applications out there who are promoting augmented creation, best examples for the same are Instagram filters, and Snapchat. Applications like spark.facebook.com is a perfect tool for AR creators where anyone without the prior or advance knowledge of AR can try their hands on with output as an interesting and your very own Instagram filter. Other than this there are several applications like Google lens, and Expedition, these are few days today examples which we can see around us.
Popular record-breaking game Pokemon Go is also an excellent example for the AR where virtual and physical elements were combined to create an artificial world with high interaction points, and this was the reason behind a reasonable engagement rate of this game. To design such an AR app is having a similar process which we can see in web designing or application designing. Using the 6D process by ImagineXP, you can understand the complete process in six different stages.
Augmented reality UX is playing a crucial role in several sectors like education, training, medicine, defence, engineering, and many more, in each field need for augmented reality is going to increase and will touch new heights.
Wireframing for augmented reality – tools for AR designing
As with any project, wireframing at the brainstorming stage is the best way to flesh out ideas. You do not have to fret with the sketches or wireframes into rapid VR/AR prototypes at an early stage. Wireframing for augmented reality UX will only help you work out any unnecessary issues with your ideas before investing in development. There are numerous tools available for creating the AR, as the market expands the development phase of the tools also growing with positive success. Augmented reality UX is creating a new niche market for UX designers and AR experts to display their creativity and potential with these tools.
It is an excellent software released by the Adobe, free for IOS platforms. Designers can create memorable and mesmerising experiences without coding with the help of Adobe Aero. Aero allows 3D object import from different 3D libraries and other software too, it also supports 2D dimensions from Photoshop and Illustrator and can convert them into AR experience. There are several other software that can be easily be used with same, like MAYA, 3DS Max, C4D etc.
A complete development package from google for AR applications This application combines three leading technologies to integrate virtual information with the physical world which we experience with our mobile devices.
- Six degrees of range lets the phone to recognise and trace its location relative to the world.
- Environmental perception enables the phone to recognise the size and location of flat horizontal surfaces like the ground or a coffee table.
- The light opinion allows the phone to determine the environment’s current lighting requirements.
AR Core aims to Transform the way people play, shop, learn, create, and experience the world together at Google Scale.
Slide empowers you to drive your conceptions and creations to the subsequent level with Augmented Reality. Just upload your artwork to this application, rewrite it directly in Augmented Reality, now let the magic unfold.
How to design for augmented and virtual reality
Designing an augmented reality UX is not significantly different from the existing web designs or application designs for mobile devices. AR itself is a unique experience which enhances the satisfaction of the user. If we analyse the case study of the Pokemon Go, we will find that the success secret for pokemon go was that they were using ar in the game.
Augmented reality UX is responsible for grabbing the attention due to which the engagement and experience are enhanced, leading to better engagement rate. The whole plan is to retain user concentration from diversion and distraction.
Another essential factor in augmented reality UX is that it can provide you with the virtual solution in your existing physical world, which is very promising and leads toward satisfaction. An excellent example of this is IKEA and Pepperfry. They are using augmented reality into their application to the user to give them real-time idea for their physical space concerning the products they are offering.
While in the whole exercise of designing an augmented reality UX, there are few things which need special attention:
- To understand the challenge in the 3d space.
- Specifying your design plan
- A deep dive in your user’s brain in 3D, because there is going to be a shift in the user’s habit as they will shift from simple 2Dimentional screen to 3D interaction.
- Use case narratives and storyline to make the persona’s fit into the situations.
- Understanding the Hardware limitation is a crucial challenge with the existing sets of ideas.
- Wireframing for augmented reality is done in an immersive environment, to recreate the best interaction.
Augmented reality best practices
The best practices in augmented reality UX can be summarised as to user-centric and empathy-driven to understand the needs and wants in a 3D environment. We need to understand the behaviour of our users in different paradigms. Making any design user-centric and giving the user a top position as per functionality and making sure about the safety is very important. During the process of making augmented reality UX quite interactive, we have to make sure the virtual elements in the application should not block the sight as it should be transparent and visible.
Usability is one of the most critical aspects of any design, and its negligence can hamper the entire process. Hence the UIs in augmented reality UX also rely heavily on this principle of design. Just imagine you have a walk, the AR UI should be able to provide a clear view if the background is transparent and objects are visible there will be a chance when a lot of readability issues arise.
Mixed reality design
Let us think about the times you learned about the law of physics or understand the way some of the greatest artists from the renaissance period used perspective in art and architecture? For many, we have only seen it in books. But what if we could experiment with gravity or study those masterpieces of the renaissance period in person?
As with other technologies like augmented reality UX, we will first draw upon what we know by making educational videos and simulations. But the full potential will emerge as we design a new language for mixed reality. We should not rely on existing instructional-design methods but look into bringing UX designers, artists, creatives and students into the development process. Natural user interfaces and sensors will make leveraging spatial computing omnipresent. Sensors are present to collect data that will provide us with new ways to assess learning.
In mixed reality, digital elements will respect the physics and social aspects of the environment. In mixed reality, creating interactions is as pivotal if not more than creating visual graphics. If Virtual Reality is about moving you to a magical world, Augmented Reality is about bringing that magic into our world, then Mixed Reality is about anchoring that magic into your world.
Augmented Reality UX has one thing very uncommon toward the traditional mobile applications; this is the contextual information processed by the system, not through the user input or user command, also supporting mixed reality design many times.
AR is a fantastic opportunity to explore, discover and craft new possibilities in the market. In traditional applications, interfaces are a journey where you need to remember the path, but technologies like Google lens, holo lens, displaying the contextual information on every item. While designing, UX designers need to highlight the space in which the application will be used. And understand if that space where the usage of the application will take place is close enough where wearables are considered the mode of using VR.