Phases of Interaction in Virtual Reality

Interaction Design is one of the most important design aspect of Virtual Reality medium other than the visuals.

In this article I present different phases of Interaction for different virtual elements. These phases when thought out well for each element that’s supposed to be interactive will enhance an overall experience. Charting details of these phases will also help designers think through the execution giving clarity much before going to software.

1. Discover/Search
2. Reach
3. Take action — Interaction
4. Interaction wait
5. Exit and Response

Understanding the phases

Each of the phases are unique in a way that they are influenced by the environment, context and user.

Discovery/Search 🔎

The initial phase of interacting with any element in the UI will be to either Search or Discover it’s location in the 360 environment. Unlike traditional flat screen interface the UI element can be present anywhere in the 360 space. This makes it important to make the element affordable to notice in the space. As a first time user, the interface should allow user to discover the element in a playful manner, without having to do the escape room activities.

Check the article on Interactive UI targets that sheds some light on this phase.

Reach 🤏🏻

With the UI elements placed in 3d space the ergonomics of reaching out to them to use is important. Since in virtual reality the interaction with the UI element is made more natural by moving the body/head towards it and then extending the arm to reach out to it.

The article on Designing Call to Action for VR environment talks about this state with examples

Take action — Interact 👋🏼

One the UI element is reached out at the next obvious step is to take the action. E.g. pulling the trigger, swaying the sword, button push, rolling the dice etc. At this point the different gestures that user will perform are very critical for registering the event.

Interaction wait 🤌🏼

AR and VR are highly natural user interaction medium. Hence depending on the advancement of hardware it may take a little while to register and respond to the user action. As a designer think of how will you communicate this wait period to the user.

Time is absolute in this world. But when you are in VR the perception changes. What is 30 mins in real world can look like 15 in VR. This is where we can trick users brain to overcome the wait time.

The article Perception of Time in VR talks about it and gives a different perspective.

Exit and Response ⭐️

And finally after the wait, the system responds to the user action. The response can be in audio, visual or haptic format. Going by latest advancement there is smell emitter accessory available in market that can be attached to VR device.

Do let me know in comments or write to me if you want to know more about Design nuances of this exciting technology.

*Kumar Ahir is working in the field of Immersive Technologies, Product Design, Design Leadership, and Strategy. He is evangelizing Design for Immersive Technologies and UX by actively doing workshops on Design Thinking, Design for AR and VR, Prototyping for Mixed Reality technologies.*

He aims to create a better Design Ecosystem for Immersive Technologies.

Know more about him at KumarAhir.com, LinkedIn and Twitter