To commence with, firstly we should be familiar with the terms UX and UI Designs, the two basic and important terms in context of Virtual Reality. Design is arguably the defining human element that separates us from all the other species. On inspecting things around us we’ll find that everything has a design, whether its architecture, to how we eat, how we live, how we communicate etc.
Similarly, User Experience Design or UX Design is present everywhere, from how we’re interacting with our smart phones to how homes and buildings are designed. Vitruvius was the first ever who wrote a book on architecture, and ascertained that a good design consists of Durability, Aesthetics and Usefulness. And these qualities are still as important for a UX Design too as they were a million years ago.
Rewinding a bit, in early 1970s-80s, UX Design what we call today was known as HCI back then. Human Computer Interaction. With the changing times it was also known as Interaction Design somewhere in 1990s and finally came Don Norman who coined the term UX Design. And according to Norman, Design is everything. Consequently, there are numerous elucidations of the term User Experience.
Gadgets that dispense great user experience are thus originated with not only it’s it’s consumption or utilization in mind but also the entire process of grasping, possessing and even troubleshooting it. Similarly UX designers not only focus on creating products just for their utilization but also keeping in mind other aspects of user experience such as smoothness, intuition, contentment, entertainment etc.
According to the current scenario of briskly growing interfaces, UX Design has become salient feature. The question that still arises in the minds of many, still remains.
Why Is UX So Important?
To put it lucidly, UX is important because it tries to satisfy the user’s requirements. It seeks to furnish real and affirmative experiences so that the user’s stick to their designs, products and brands. Also, User Experiences gives access to share customer’s journey and by sharing that on websites it can be a very helpful element for other user’s and audiences.
Now comes the second term, UI. User Interface is the means in which a person reins a hardware design or a software application. User Interface tries to create a user-friendly environment for the user so as to make the user comfortable around the hardware or the software he must be using. To give the user a natural and intuitive surrounding.
Why Is UI Important?
According to a simple definition, UI design is important because it can turn the potential visitant into buyers, thus making one’s customer base. An Interface is the location where the user interacts with the software or hardware, the better the interaction between them, the more satisfaction it provides the user with which automatically leads to the company’s success.
Now that these terms are covered, we’ll move on to our subject that is, The Importance of UI/UX for Virtual Reality.
What Is Even Virtual Reality?
There are numerous definitions for virtual reality but one of the simple and helpful definition is by Jeremy Bailenson, “VR is an experience generator. Because it is a digital medium, anything we can imagine seeing or hearing can be easily generated in a VR environment.
Virtual Reality experiences use combinations of computer hardware and software to represent different aspects of the physical world to an individual in real time.” He explained.
User Experience, Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality have emerged as the three pillars of innovative designing. With the technology getting advanced day by day, AR and VR Technologies which are said to be close cousins are becoming increasingly famous in the field of digital products. Also, AR and VR Technologies are something which is becoming quite common too because of all the competition. And that’s why designers are ready to take up new challenges to be on top.
Planning a UX/UI Design is not as simple as it seems, we have to keep the preferences of customers in mind and not every customer wants the same thing as the other does. One of the major places where UX/UI is dominating would be in Mobile App Development. Thousands of Apps are created for customers according to their likes and dislikes, how easily they would be able to use and interact with that App, how it can be a different experience for them as compared to other Apps, everything is kept in the list while creating a design.
Then one of the rising products nowadays, Virtual Reality Games. Whether it’s Fortnite, Tomb Raider or any other Virtual Reality Game, the hype for them is so much because they give you a real life experience even in a small four wall room. The illusions created by these games are so perfect that even our brain gets cheated on. Along with the entertainment, it also is very helpful in many fields such as, Driving simulations, Pilot Trainings, Astronaut Trainings etc. Our world is consumed by AR and VR Technologies from all sides without us even knowing.
That’s the importance of UX and UI, how to coordinate with the Applications, be it software’s or hardware’s. Along with that the experience the user gets just by sitting in a room, our world really has evolved a lot. Its mind boggling how now things can be done just by the gestures of our hands.
User interfaces, in particular, require a complete re-thinking of function, layout, and implementation. Traditionally, user interfaces have been divided into diegetic (part of the game world), non-diegetic (separate from the game world), spatial and meta components. Where there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. Just like where there’s good, there’s bad too. The fear, however, is it requires developers to seek ingenious ways of representing typical information, such as health, items in inventory, etc. These, in turn, must be intuitive and effective; otherwise, they will frustrate the user and result in a loss of immersion.
Conclusion..
To conclude, when designing an interface for Virtual Reality Experiences, one should pay careful attention of customer’s needs. How the experience for them should be comfortable and intuitive while also trying at every stage to immerse components into game space or even any other narrative.
