Race for Augmented Reality glasses is heating up. Meta presented Orion prototype, Apple is reportedly set on beating Orion to market with their own product. Then Google, all of the sudden, revealed Android XR and its own take on AR glasses.
Clearly there is a lot going on — I realized we might be developing 3D apps sooner than we thought. Since I refuse to be left behind, I had to figure it out.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered the flat interfaces are still the norm on all platforms. Familiarity and efficiency are often used as an explanation.
On the other hand, just a couple of minutes in AR makes you realize that interacting with 3D objects is way more immersive. Ignoring it for the sake of simplicity, well… it feels like a waste of the AR technology. This got me wondering…
Can we design 3D interfaces that fit Augmented Reality, and yet, feel familiar?
As it turns out, yes. Absolutely.
Getting the most out of 3D displays
I knew I was on to something. To figure out the potential of custom interfaces I have developed an outdoor activity tracker, in Unity. I ran a moderated usability study to check how people interact with 3D interfaces. Here is what I learned:
- Make use of 3D screen — Focus on 3D content, build your interface around it.
- Apps can be used from multiple angles — Multitasking in AR means people will not always face UI directly.
- App as a place to work — Whole room can be a screen now, we are designing workspaces, not tools.
- Supporting long and short range interactions — People switch between touch and ray-casting, depending on context. We need to support both.
- Following AR Platform standards — Just because our UI is custom doesn’t mean we can ignore interface guidelines. Consistency is key.
Still have your attention? Great, let’s dive into details then.
To illustrate the upsides of 3D interfaces I started with a flat app, typical for visionOS platform. Then I gradually made my way towards full 3D.
One thing that becomes immediately clear is that 3D content has to be front and center. Ability to view and interact with 3D objects is the major advantage of AR, after all.