*Nice to see augmented reality design jargon flourishing in such short order: Head-Up Display, Tricorder, Holochess, and X-ray Vision; Loner, Second Hand Smoke, Pay No Attention To the Man Behind the Curtain, The Invisible Man!, Tunnel Vision, and AR for AR’s Sake.
(...)
"Connecting the Apple brand to augmented experiences will persuade many people to try out AR. Yet as I’ve said, and many others as well, getting the user experience of augmented reality ‘right’ is absolutely the critical element to the long term viability of this new class of experiences. This entails two efforts.
"First, designers must refine the experiences offered by all those AR applications based on the four classic interaction patterns known so far – Head-Up Display, Tricorder, Holochess, and X-ray Vision.
"Two factors make refinement essential: competition from other AR offerings that reduces the novelty value of your experience, and increased ‘load’ on the UX in the form of actual use for everyday purposes in the complex setting of real life. Think about trying to choose where to get lunch for the afternoon by sorting through 1500 listings for coffee shops and restaurants while standing on a street corner in the rain in London holding your phone aloft.
"The functional aspects of AR experiences just aren’t refined enough to handle the interaction design, visualization, and contextual sensitivity challenges implied. [Prediction: AR usage cases will naturally settle on a set of common scenarios that balance the strengths and weaknesses of each of the four classic patterns. More speculation on that in a later post.]
"Second, designers must address the gaps in the set of concepts now used as the basis for imagining new augmented experiences. I flagged six ‘missing’ patterns in the range of experiences offered so far; Loner, Second Hand Smoke, Pay No Attention To the Man Behind the Curtain, The Invisible Man!, Tunnel Vision, and AR for AR’s Sake (see the article for details). I’m sure the very savvy readers of this blog can identify even more. (((Who can doubt it?)))
"I hope all the AR innovators, designers, and entrepreneurs working hard on the crest of this breaking wave of technology find ways to take on both of these tasks...."
