Well-designed virtual realities allow their users to both do and be.
doing: taking purposeful actions in the world; exploration, control
being: intentional reflection, introspection, and calm
A careful balance and synthesis of doing and being is an integral part of designing for VR artfully.
We present a practical philosophy for how to design artfully for virtual reality. Framing this design philosophy is the balance of doing vs. being as a central duality in all design for VR. The values underlying this way of thinking draw from a diverse set of interdisciplinary perspectives and from our own practice in computer music design. We develop a set of design principles, through which we critically analyse several popular musical VR experiences as well as some of our own creations. These include a tool for audio programming in VR, a set of design etudes on musical instruments and a multi-movement artistic work. Through these principles and case studies, we hope to provide lenses – both critical and practical – to inform the design of artful VR.
Lens 1: Don't Forget About Audio
Lens 2: Designing to the Medium
Lens 3: Doing vs. Being
Lens 4: Interaction
Lens 5: Immersion
Lens 6: Designing for the Body
Lens 7: Designing for Play
Lens 8: Designing for Social
These figures are included in the paper itself, linked here for your convenience!
The paper can be accessed through the Journal of New Music Research [PDF].