Factors listing out key factors for making an impact on users for AR based mobile applications

1. 7 Factors determining deeper impact and acceptance of AR
based mobile application on user experience.
-Ashish Agrawal

2. Consumers and industry today have lots of expectation from VR based apps to drive the next generation
of mobility experiences. With the prediction that market for VR/AR to cross $100 bn. by 2020, many
companies are investing hugely into products around VR space. Though VR generates lot of buzz,
product designers need to be careful to align and focus on the right parameters ensuring a right mix of
design, innovation and usability. Technological progress into powerful software/hardware processors
and sensors will be the centrifugal force driving the success of VR, but the outcome can still be messy
and un-accepted if an holistic view of technology, user and systems is not considered.
Key areas of focus for VR success:
 Synchronization of the senses and the environment
Virtual reality is a playground for users to engage with his natural surroundings in a more
interactive and prolific way. By immersing users in a new world, it removes the real-life visual
experience and builds an engrossed environment conducive for better learning and user-
engagement. The enhanced experience, whether it’s about gaming, learning or entertainment,
require total synchronization of all the user senses at the same time. Voice, display, viewing
capabilities and touch sensors needs to deliver at the same time. It is pivotal for VR creators and
designer to ensure that the complimentary accessories, content and the multi-media
engagement are hyper-accurate and synchronized perfectly to give an uninterrupted
experience.
 Stronger Re-enforced design
Unlike traditional mobile and web platforms where most of experience is based around flat UI
structure, VR apps require a much deeper and immersive experience
Designers need to build holistic team with deeper knowledge and passion for VR oriented apps,
- including UX designers, animators, and 3D modelers. They have to follow iterative and
adaptive process where every aspect of user engagement is considered and improved at every
stage. It involves not only a deeper understanding of storytelling but also building this
experience in the form of interactive experiences – every detail of spatial environment, the
typography and fonts used in those experiences with the guilds are all to be studied to design a
better VR experience. The UI depth, eyestrain and the gaze control cannot be ignored. While
designing these immersive experiences we need to ensure that users will not get any cognitive
load or strain while interacting with these apps or devices.
In VR design hardware plays an equally critical factor and the comfort with which user can
interact and engage with the virtual playground determines how long and how frequently user
would like to continue in the virtual world. The way user responds to a non-existing and non-real
world is determined by attention to details taken care by the designers in creating each flow.
The study of gestures and how users interact with a system needs to be put to a better use. The
human brain should be made to perceive the surroundings and follow instructions in a natural
way.

3.  Wearability – Mobile Friendliness
As organizations want customers to fashionably flaunt their VR products, they need to ensure
their hardware product designs are wearable in nature. It should acts as a complimentary
addition to the mobile device in a stylish, comfortable way and can be easily attached and
detached as user engages with it. Wearable device need to focus on complete optimization of
battery life, CPU and GPU consumption. These wearable devices could be smart glasses or smart
helmets that can look cool and trendy and would ease the usability of interacting with the
environment seamlessly. Apart from glasses there should be more research done in this space to
see if other wearable gadgets (handheld watches) or any VR specific phones or devices can be
designed that could be used to make the users more comfortable with the VR environment.
 Larger than life approach – Surprise the user and give them superpower
Consumers already have gone through the smart phone experience and their expectations are
beyond playing games. Users expect it to be more than a gimmick show. VR allows users to play,
learn, interact and feel the environment in an unprecedented way. What user can do or
experience takes him to a new level of association with the content. In-order to guarantee
deeper immersive experience companies need to keep the user scenarios trendy but keep the
interaction mechanism intuitive and close to real life. VR in reality has a capacity to transform
the user’s environment by cultivating this aesthetic environment that makes it appear true to
life. Today, even the rollercoaster rides and other – real life experiences are transformed with
immersive technology.
 Accessibility and Affordability
In-order to reach mass target audience it is critical to make the VR accessories accessible easily
at an affordable price. In today’s connected world, Augmented reality do not have any
boundaries and can be used anywhere around the world. The large user base and the first
billion dollar will not come merely from hardware sales but rather a cumulative app and
accessories revenue will make the goal possible. Big VR brands need to invest into developing
eco-system for app developers to build, deploy, test and monetize their ideas thereby bringing
partnership and traction from a bigger audience making it the next big thing in mobility.
 Move beyond image recognition
In recent times, one of the debatable point around AR is the need to come out of its infancy and
move beyond image recognition. There are many preliminary apps, which leverages pattern
recognition to bring information and augmented experience to the user. So far in mobile we are
utilizing the VR technology available but the need is to develop super specialized technology
meant for mobile eco-system and use-cases which can fill the existing gaps and bring a
seamless, user centric and natural extension to human perception.

4.  Solving real problems
There are many critical open gaps in domains like medical emergency, education,
administration, traffic and disaster management where VR can be applied to comprehend and
resolve tricky problems. Given the VR story has become too big to fail now and there will be
further advancements in sensor, hardware and software technology which can be evolved to
develop more impactful features to further improve, enhance and sustain the human race.
Apart from the entertaining games these VR experiences can be put to better use by doing
further research and including them in daily life scenarios and solving problems within the
context of users. For example: In context of real life spaces/ buildings and construction sites,
these immersive VR experiences can one step further, help users to look into better utilization
of a space and give contextual suggestions for interior decoration or helping them with space
design. Building VR stories and fulfilling user needs and making the environment enjoyable and
user-friendly is the need of today’s tech-savvy environment and society.
VR for HEALTHCARE: Pointer screen image with navigational icon