ALOFT • Meeting in VR
Concept
What is Aloft?
Aloft is a conceptual VR meeting application that provides meeting venues and aims to create an office atmosphere that allows face-to-face communication without the constraints of space and distance.
Designing interactive objects in 3d space, such as bracelets, backpacks and apps, enables attendees to conveniently take notes, share screens, share files and much more. It allows attendees to be highly engaged and focused on following the speaker’s progress and makes every VR meeting simple yet productive.
01 / 06
— Project Overview —
What's the Context?
The application of VR in the workplace is still in the early phase of its business cycle. Conventional VR meeting applications have focused mainly on casual “chat heavy” use rather than positioning themselves as tools for productivity and teamwork. There is a huge potential to optimize the design process and obtain design results through UX methodologies to reduce the cost of learning for users and smoothen the transition from 2D workspace to 3D.
My Role & Deliverables
I was the sole individual responsible for this project from scratch to the final design. Meanwhile, I created the artifacts and deliverables you will see in this case study.
Challenge
Designing a process and toolbox in VR that users will find intuitive to operate while enabling them to be productive when cooperating in the virtual office environment.
* The XR Industry has limited norms and guidelines for designing a user-centric solution for users. The development of the tools for design and testing is still in its infancy and is progressing rapidly. It requires extra time to explore and justify which design tools and methodologies are the most appropriate for rapid iteration and testing.
AIMS
- Understand the behavioural patterns of individuals when using VR devices and find out their concerns during virtual collaboration.
- Improve user engagement by identifying the customer’s journey through an existing application.
- Reduce the number of user false clicks and exits caused by confusion when using the application.
Outcome
90% of users found productivity tools intuitive and helpful
Prototyped this concept with 90% of people understanding the operation concept and gave positive feedback.
Endorsed by professionals and small business owners
Pitched this idea to over ten stakeholders who are metaverse enthusiasts, all of whom asked for a follow-up discussion on the project update.
02 / 06
— Design Process —
Design Approach
Considering that this application is in the early growth phase of its business cycle, I explored aspects of business analysis and XR development and the user experience when developing the design process.
UNDERSTANDING
Business Analysis, UX Design, XR Develop
– Competitive Analysis
– Business Model Canvas
– Initial Discussions
– Tech Docs
EMPATHIZING & DEFINE
UX Design, Business Analysis
MAKING
UX Design, XR Prototype & Develop
– UI (Figma)
– Ideation/Position (ShapesXR)
– Hi-Fi Prototype (Unity)
IMPROVING
UX Design, XR Prototype & Develop
03 / 06
— EMPATHIZING —
SUMMARY
Why is this a problem?
Realizing productivity in VR seems absurd at the moment
Content offerings (27%) are the top obstacle regarding factors hindering VR adoption. Existing platforms are inadequate to support their meeting needs, therefore many VR users view virtual meeting rooms as immersive scenery of a venue rather than a place to perform productivity tasks.
Attendees are easily confused by new concepts
Uncertain user experience is the second most significant barrier to people abandoning VR (19%). In an unfamiliar space, people have to slow down and understand new concepts. The purpose of the conference may easily be forgotten.
User Interviews
Gathering first-hand insights through interviews is the best way to understand how industry experts view VR as a tool for team collaboration & business meetings, I interviewed 7 VR experts to confirm initial assumptions.
Primary Research Question: How do users view the VR workplace as a new approach to collaboration?
Secondary Research Question: How to improve the usability and productivity of VR workspace through layout and integration of apps?
Empathy Mapping & Design Principles
Based on the insights from empathy mapping, I formulated the Design Principle that focuses on Practicality, Engagement, and Productivity throughout the project.
(The following slides show how this design principle was generated)
04 / 06
— DEFINING —
Target User
Target users have to own a VR headset and are curious and willing to try new concepts. They aim to create a space to connect and cooperate, hang out, build relationships, and collide through inspiration to co-create.
User Needs
- To participate in meetings and interact with attendees.
- To share resources to a specific person or in groups.
- To record, modify, publish and archive ideas during the meeting.
- To conduct meeting activities all in one on a stand-alone VR device, avoiding the inconvenience of switching devices during a meeting.
User Goals
- Productivity: Easy transition between 2D to 3D and enhance the functionality of content visualization;
- Connectivity: To create a space to connect and cooperate, to hang out, build the relationship, and through inspiration, collides to co-create;
- Accessibility: Let the meeting cross the barriers of region, language (translation), technological constraint (number of screens, screen size and resolution).
Customer Journey
To analyze the key traits from user and identify the most frustrating points, I visualized the user journey when using Spatial.
Spatial is a platform that provides a variety of meeting venues in VR, such as virtual art galleries showcasing non-fungible tokens, NFTs.
As the closest product to my original goal of a VR platform with productivity, engagement, and practicality, Spatial put users in completely immersive digital environments, and users can join rooms and interact with other avatars.
Also, it has a specific clientele that allows me to find interviewers, test with users and find out what to explore further.
From the diagram, the two troughs below are the stages that frustrate users the most, meaning “Joining a Meeting & Presentation” and “Conversation & Discussion” are two of the most frustrating phases for users that I should have prioritized to work on.
Key Finding
1
Users get lost when they are beamed into the venue, and there is no visual guidance. They didn’t know where to go, what is it about and where to start.
↓
How might we enhance user engagement in meetings, so that users are more focused on achieving meeting goals?
2
The lack of access to the tools they usually use at work is the most critical reason that prevents users from switching to VR.
↓
How might we integrate desktop interface and functionality into VR, so that users can leverage every feature from both platforms to enable a productive virtual workspace?
OPPORTUNITY
How might we integrate aloft with people’s work ecosystem to achieve higher productivity while safeguarding the user experience?
The Solution
Aloft is a VR conferencing application that requires people to wear VR devices, where users can sit in a fixed position and control the virtual interface through a hand controller or hand tracking.
Onboarding
- The meeting agenda and user tutorials can be seen on the screen of the hot air balloon;
- A bird’s eye view of the working environment can be seen from the hot air balloon.
My Bag
For accessing local files and team-shared files from the cloud.
Bracelet
To open up tools, and widgets to access standard features in meetings, such as screen sharing, note-taking, muting etc.
Application
To open up third-party applications and have functional access to the information, products, and services that they need at work.
Flow 1: Co-Creating
Facilitate Co-creating and note-taking to capture valuable points from meetings.
Flow 2: Screen-Sharing
Screen sharing allows you to invite selected members in the meeting to view your screens or browsers.
In this case, let’s say we invite members to view your Miro board.
05 / 06
— MAKING —
Product Evolution Canvas
From my user interviews, they shared a lot of interesting insights and imaginations about the app’s features. Some wanted to earn rewards and collect accessories, and others wanted to have a more formal Avatar for business meetings.
To prioritize my design and classify the core features or bonus features, I created the product evolution canvas to show the possible stages of development. MVP covers the most basic features, such as providing scenery for a meeting; Core Product adds productivity tools; Full-Scale Product includes the most innovative features that bring the metaverse experience to the next level.
Object-Oriented UX
Designing objects for VR is different from any 2D design because it also requires establishing a way to interact with the 3D objects in the space. I applied the UUOX method to organize the information architecture. The objects include a bracelet, backpack and apps.
Storyboard
–– Ideation and Concept Development
Based on the insights I gathered from respondents and market research, I came up with the idea to make a new VR conferencing app – ALOFT. It is not just a VR conference room, as it also has a hot air balloon that carries the user through the forest and ocean and then lands in the meeting room. The purpose is to give participants some preparation time during the ride and read over the meeting agenda and user tutorial.
The initial idea was to create a gondola. However, I replaced it with an air balloon because the parameter tuning of the physics is more straightforward.
Pain Points: Easy to get lost without guidance and introduction
The hot air balloon is a staging area before entering the venue, giving users a clearer idea of the purpose and ensuring they enter the meeting after confirmation.
In the initial round of user testing, we asked users to imagine their desired work environment, and overlooking nature won the most votes. As a result, I included gondolas, hot air balloons, and floating rooms in the selection as onboarding mediums.
Because the hot air balloon would float in the upper air, users approved the hot air balloon without considering motion sickness caused by people wearing VR glasses.
What would you know in a hot air balloon?
An introductory video from the event creator will be played during the ride in the cabin. Attendees will also receive a meeting agenda and user tutorial on interacting with the objects in the VR session.
Attendees can skip or follow along with the tutorials, which are categorized by the three primary user inputs:
1. Bracelet – Meeting Tools: Users use the digital bracelet to access standard features such as sharing files, taking notes, and muting or unmuting during a meeting.
2. Backpack – Resources: Each user also has a backpack that stores local files or shared documents. Drag it from the shoulder to view backpack items.
3. Applications – To enable a productive virtual work environment, users can browse and open apps quickly by extending their palms. It will show a list of all applications and frequently used apps.
06 / 06
— IMPROVING —
Usability Testing
I built simple models and low-fidelity wireframes to bring my interviewees into the scene, so they could feel the interaction with the objects and express their feelings.
(Scenarios built in ShapesXR with users for usability testing)
Concept Testing
To validate new ideas, I conducted concept testing and removed the areas where users did not find it helpful and marked their areas of interest on the product evolution canvas. Below are the summarized observations.
UI Testing
Some users were unsure about the function of the icons and couldn’t remember which submenu they were in, so they always went back to the previous step. So, the iterative solution shows the changes I’ve made. I added descriptive text, pinned toolboxes, and colour markers to guide users better.
Accessibility – 6/10 of users were unfamiliar with the tools and icons, so they kept testing out different tools;
Remedy: Added descriptive texts under each icon.
Recognition – 4/10 of users kept returning to the previous step to review their point of interest, e.g., they forgot they were in Tools;
Remedy: Selected tools will be pinned on the left of the toolbox.
Readability – 2/10 users found the text hard to read when the colour of the UI font blended in with the background;
Remedy: Different states, such as default, hover, and click will be displayed.
Ideation Testing
I’ve learned a few things from my failures regarding creative testing.
One of the things I learned from the design process is the importance of reference points. Otherwise, it is easy to cause errors and scaling problems. Therefore I have this model person as a reference when I add elements to the environment.
In addition, I set up multiple screens that served different purposes. The closer screen shows items popped out of the bracelet, and the more distant screen shows items in the backpack. And the screen in the air balloon is another size.
The next testing plan will focus on interactive 3D objects and physics. It will require more programming and different plugins, such as oculus integration and MRTK.
Some Thoughts & Takeaways
My Takeaways
This project was a really good experience for me to get to understand team collaboration in virtual reality from a design perspective. I really enjoyed interviewing people and seeing how VR has impacted people's lives or even at work. It was very interesting to test what kind of interaction design would work for them and how to incorporate team productivity tools with VR. One feature that sets it apart from other products is that every 3D object and user interface of Aloft has a common goal of simplifying the steps to launch tools while enhancing team collaboration. This facilitates knowledge sharing and improves first-use learnability.
Prospects
While there has been massive growth in VR users, the transition to a full VR workspace is still very challenging unless it can do most of the tasks that you do on a desktop. In my opinion, what we lack most is a comprehensive VR interactive design that allows users to intuitively operate to accomplish a wide range of functional tasks, like swiping and tapping on a smartphone.
