UI/UX Design in a 3D Space

Apologies in advance for the shortness of this article. It’s been a long week since moving back to college station and doing both TA and UTSW work. I’m sure there’s a lot more I can say about this topic in a follow-up article later this year. I'm working on prepping these articles in advance.

I was planning to write about Microsoft Edge’s vertical tabs this week but with multiple tech news sites writing about the Vision Pro’s UI for different apps I decided now was a good time to talk about XR app design. This article about a lackluster XR Spotify rendering made me want to discuss how UI/UX can evolve in the growing age of “spatial computing.”

Designing on 3 Axes

So far, XR has done little to innovate UI and UX. They currently don’t do a lot to take advantage of depth or gestures. This is understandable since users are having to become accustomed to having a computer attached to their face, and having familiar interfaces decreases the learning curve for adopters. However, if all XR turns out to be is an inconvenient way to have holographic-like displays with apps having the same look and controls then why would users want to use XR devices? The addition of a third axis the user can use allows app designers to make more intuitive and immersive designs.

Users can move digital objects around in 3D space. Taking elements and moving them in different directions to control apps allows for a more dynamic user experience. Grab an email and put it in your pocket to archive it, toss it over your shoulder to discard it, or throw it like a paper airplane to send it.

Immersion

So far, XR apps look a lot like direct ports of desktop apps and look like they can fit on a traditional screen. I understand familiarity being a concern, but XR is potentially the biggest leap UI/UX will take this century. There are so many ways to make apps more immersive and grounded in our reality.

I love the idea of seeing app interfaces projected on surfaces. I want to see a Spotify that has volume knobs I can turn or a vinyl record player I can put records in. Traditional options should always be an option because I doubt you’re going to want to be throwing your arms around while on the train but a unique experience is a reason to buy into the XR market.

Potential Problems

Unfortunately, these revolutionary designs can't be added with a "make awesome" button. It requires reworking the entire app. Being a small market that is growing surely but slowly, there's not a ton of incentive for developers to do this. It's a chicken and egg problem where these new designs could build a larger user base but it's hard to rationalize these redesigns without a large user base. It's up to XR platform developers to incorporate new ideas into the base system controls and make the app redesign process easy when porting existing apps.

Conclusions

The development of UI/UX design is going to be dependent on the developers of XR platforms and apps. There hasn't had a lot of evolution in this design space yet, especially in areas that aren't video games. The first hurdle is getting over this worry about familiarity. After that, designers will be challenged to innovate and challenge the norms to build a better XR ecosystem.