Developing An AR Experience: 8 UX Principles To Consider

Contemporary internet users demand more than mere information. They look for experiences that translate to meaningful and memorable brand journeys. Success across the digital realm relies more significantly on user experience. Thus, companies are increasingly investing in delivering what it takes to delight users.

AR (Augmented Reality) is one of those many digital elements attracting the attention of many! As per latest reports, AR’s global market is projected to surpass the USD 450 billion mark by 2030. AR experiences will continue to enhance user journeys and help businesses reap many tangible and intangible benefits.

Yes. AR is crucial to a business’s success. But easier said than done, it takes effort and a meticulous approach to build an excellent AR experience. If you, too, are looking to follow the AR trend and build mesmerizing experiences, you have this blog that talks about eight UX principles you should consider while incorporating it.

What is AR?

AR layers computer-generated images over the real world. It adds a programmed layer over the actual reality to develop an augmented experience. Thus, users don’t merely see or read something, they interact with what is seen and get instant and real-time feedback on a particular action they perform. A museum allowing people to view paintings and sculptures closely and effortlessly is a small example of AR.

8 UX Factors to Consider While Designing an AR Experience

1. Align Your AR Design with User Expectations

If you are getting into AI only because it is trending, then revisit your purpose. AR is definitely on the rise and an excellent accessory to help you grow, but it translates to success only when you bring value to users. Doing something only because your peer has done it might not necessarily strike a chord. Even worse, it could possibly let your investment go in vain.

Thus, the key to designing an AR experience is understanding your user expectations first. Decipher their needs and know what they want. Do a competitive study to understand how your users are responding to existing AR experiences. Avoid anything that disengages users. Focus on what’s user friendly, and value sought behind it.

2. Assess the Device’s Capabilities

Provide AR experiences only on devices capable of featuring them. If AR is your core offering, ensure to make it available on devices that can deliver justice to every effort you’ve put into it. If your app has features that require particular AR harnessing capabilities, avoid offering the same on devices that don’t support them!

3. Make the Experience Intuitive

AR delivers a magical experience that blurs lines between physical and digital worlds. But users feel happy when they come across gestures and interactions with which they are familiar. The key to doing it is to make AR experience intuitive and simple to handle. It will help users experience and enjoy AR features easily.

4. Provide Your Users Clues

Users will always look for familiar hints and easy-to-comprehend paths in real life while using a particular feature in an application. An easy example is searching for route maps while traveling the suburban transportation system.

In a similar fashion, it is necessary to provide your users with clues to interact with for a particular environment. You can include graphic animations as a guide and part of the overall AR experience. For instance, an animated character wearing a particular attire in a real-virtual setup can also form an AR experience.

5. Avoid Gimmicking the AR Experience

Gimmicking the AR experience can overwhelm the user. To provide an appreciable yet realistic AR experience, you must avoid making it look overly fabricated. Users are smart enough to differentiate between the realistic and the artificial. AR is a virtual experience brewed to appear real and enhance user experience.

6. Deliver a Versatile AR Experience

Don’t limit your AR experience to a set of target audience. Now, what does that mean? It refers to user accessibility and aesthetics at the same time. Don’t employ interfaces and designs that serve a particular set of users and ignore those with different abilities. Extend AR accessibility and improve it via guidelines for physical and screen accessibility.

7. Simplify Onboarding

Onboarding for a three-dimensional space could prove more challenging and crucial. Of course, you will have various guidelines to follow. But don’t cling to them. Improve upon the established norms. Strike a balance between being intuitive and unique while respecting something which is already tested and proven.

8. Use the Screen Prudently

A cluttered and congested screen leaves one dissatisfied Such users abandon the screen without even exploring the AR experience with a second thought! For them, what matters most is the experience and value generated.

Accordingly, utilize screen space wisely. Hide information or elements you feel users will not use readily. It will help provide a much cleaner visual real-estate for them to focus on AR experiences more.

Deliver Next-Level AR Experiences with Qodequay!

Qodequay can help make AR work to your benefit with resonating experiences that make user journeys more fruitful and meaningful. We adopt a three-phased design thinking process that pivots on user needs and your business objectives. Thus, while impressing your target audience, our AI apps do not deviate from expected business objectives.

At Qodequay, we cover the AR needs of various business domains, including hospitality, manufacturing, education, and many others. Our truly commendable expertise in AR can help you derive measurable benefits in the form of enhanced user interaction, increased user engagement, and amplified marketing impact.

We are here to help you and have everything it takes to create sublime AR experiences. Write to us at Contact@qodequay.com and allow us to be your AR partners!