Designing Immersive 3D Experiences A Designer's Guide to Creating Realistic 3D Experiences for Extended Reality Voices That Matter Series

A Designer's Guide to Creating Realistic 3D Experiences For Extended Reality

Designing Immersive 3D Experiences helps visual designers move into the fast-growing fields of 3D and extended reality (XR) design. Author Renée Stevens (Powered by Design) introduces a proven approach and an effective design-thinking process you can use to create successful immersive user experiences. The book is grounded in familiar design principles and explores how you can build on these foundations, adapting them for virtual and augmented reality environments. Designing Immersive 3D Experiences prepares visual designers to succeed with 3D and XR design in multiple environments, from mobile, to web, to wearables.

This book begins by exploring the basics of XR and 3D immersive design, how they are evolving, and how you may already be using them. It then moves into core concepts and technologies, from computer-human interaction, to spatial computing, to projection mapping and head-mounted displays.

Learn how to:

• Adapt ideation strategies for new XR and 3D projects while incorporating design-thinking strategies, balancing innovation with practicality, and keeping it all human
• Build seamless, multi-modal, and accessible user experiences and interfaces in three dimensions
• Harness the power of visual perception and ways to activate the senses using XR technology
• Augment typography and create hierarchy in physical spaces that are dynamic and uncontrollable
• Enhance the user experience using spatial audio and voice
• Explore next steps in the industry and consider the ethical implications that come with advancement

CHAPTER 1 PICK YOUR REALITY

The tech behind the acronyms

You are already using extended reality

Prosthetic knowledge

Looking ahead

CHAPTER 2 TECHNOLOGY CHECK

Is any of this actually new?

The world in the palm of your hand

Projection mapping

Head-mounted displays

Spatial computing

Reality check

CHAPTER 3 THE IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

The world in 3D

Affordances

Multimodal experiences

Experience design

CHAPTER 4 IDEATION

Identify the why

Innovation and practicality

Outside influence

Keep it human

The answer to your questions

CHAPTER 5 CREATING THE PROTOTYPE

Fake it 'til you make it

Sketch transparently

The power of prototypes

Use what you know

Process work

CHAPTER 6      THE UX OF XR

Approachable design

Seamless user flow

Know thy audience

Making reality accessible

UX challenge

CHAPTER 7 THE UI OF XR

The z-axis

3D interface metaphors

Time and space

Microinteractions

Inspiration is all around you

CHAPTER 8 HUMAN FACTORS

Designing the whole experience

Theories of perception

Creating hierarchy in 3D

Human centered

CHAPTER 9 THE UNCONTROLLABLE BACKGROUND

Expecting the unexpected

Figure-ground

Location, location, location

Getting emotional

Control is overrated

CHAPTER 10 AUGMENTED TYPOGRAPHY

Legibility and readability

Creating visual contrast

Take control

Design with purpose

CHAPTER 11 COLOR FOR XR

Color appearance models

Light interactions

Dynamic adaptation

Reflection

CHAPTER 12 SOUND DESIGN

Hearing what you see

Spatial sound

Augmented audio

Voice experiences

Power of sound

CHAPTER 13 BRINGING IT TO LIFE

To code or not to code

Keep it agile

Try, and try again

User experience research

Privacy and ethical considerations

Keep it super

CHAPTER 14 UP NEXT

Where to go from here

Breaking out of rectangles

Why we need XR right now

Extend our physical space

Renée Stevens is an interactive and immersive designer, educator, author, and speaker. Her creative work focuses on innovative ways that design can help overcome learning disabilities and create more accessible and inclusive learning environments. She is the founder of the XR tech startup, tagAR. For more than a decade she has run her own interactive design studio consulting and designing on XR projects and working as a motion designer for Forbes. You can find her teaching at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where she is the Associate Chair of the Visual Communications Department, overseeing the undergraduate and graduate design programs. She was named an Educator to Watch by Graphic Design USA (GDUSA). She has been invited around the world to speak about her research and design work in XR, including TEDx, SXSW, Sundance, VR/AR Association, and AIGA. She is the author of the book Powered by Design. She lives in New York with her husband and two children who keep her creating every day.

You can learn more at www.reneestevens.design.

The complete, step-by-step, full-color guide to the entire 3D XR creative design process

• Shows readers how to apply design principles and theory to any 3D or immersive design project
• Helps designers of all kinds meet fast-growing needs for immersive learning, healthcare, and travel experiences in the post-COVID world
• Focuses specifically on design thinking for XR
• By Renée Stevens, author of the classic Powered by Design