Creator Masterclass: UI/UX of AR FiltersMeta x UNIT9 | 2023
Overview
Project
In an hour-long masterclass and live Q&A hosted by Meta, Justine Quirin and I shared our philosophy and practice of good UI/UX design within AR filter development, highlighting how prioritizing thoughtful UX can save you valuable development time and improve the overall usability of your AR experience. Full recording and/or script available upon request.
Team
Producer: Ludovica MusumeciDesign Strategist: Hannah Seckendorf
Experience Designer: Justine Quirin
UI/UX Research
UI/UX Strategy
Script Copy Writing
On-Camera Communication
Background
The Problem
Designing AR effects require new principles and practices that don’t necessarily adhere to 2D ways of working.
The Ask
Meta approached UNIT9 for subject matter expertise on the design of AR filters. They wanted us to script and produce an hour long masterclass in which we condensed everything we knew about best practices for AR filter design.
Approach
Research & Expert Interviews
I started with some preliminary desk research and then held interviews with various subject matter experts.
Outlining the Affordances of AR
After soaking up all available research and expertise, I began to detail what, specifically, AR affords:
- Most obviously, augmenting physical environments with virtual objects and environments
- Which sometimes affords manipulation of virtual environments and objects through traditional interactions (such as tapping)
- OR sometimes affords influence of those virtual environments and objects through new interactions – like gestures, expressions, and movements
- OR sometimes affords physical movement through 3D virtual environments – walking around a virtual object or in virtual portal
Maybe the most exciting implication of AR is that it will move us towards standards of more intuitive interactions that mimic the ways we naturally interact with the physical world. We can then start to move into virtual spaces with all the embodied forms of interaction we have access to in the physical world – walking around things to see different perspectives and gesturing and communicating with our hands, faces, voices, and even body language.
Refining Experience Principles as They Apply to AR
With the affordances in mind, I then began to distill the Experience Principles with considerations specific to the opportunities and challenges of AR.
I added a unique consideration that would function as a focus area for us as we work through each of the principles when applied to AR. This helped focus our discussion on the things that are truly unique considerations of the medium rather than spending too much time reviewing well-established considerations of more familiar mediums that you can easily find online.
As I explored each of the principles, I focused on actionability and decided to share concrete “commandments” to follow when practicing your own UX design.
Outcome
The Masterclass
After two weeks of script writing with Justine and long rehearsals with our Producers, we shared our masterclass with the Meta Spark AR creator community.
Following the Masterclass itself, there was an opportunity for a live Q&A, in which Justine and I responded to any questions the creators had following our presentation.