UX for XR by Cornel Hillmann

Author:Cornel Hillmann
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781484270202
Publisher: Apress

3.4.1 The Importance of Frameworks forUX Design

Committing to a VR or AR framework means to accept its limitations, but also to take advantage of the presets and templates that have been provided to make prototyping faster and easier. But, even though it speeds up the process, frameworks still require the technical know-how of implementing their functions in the context of the unique design goals.

In the best-case scenario, a framework provides all the core components that are needed to get basic functionality set up, such as locomotion and basic object interaction, with the freedom to extend components and features, plus the ability to customize the look and feel of interactions and UI elements. In the best-case scenario, a framework can kick-start development with rapid prototyping that seamlessly transitions into the final product.

The analogy of an XR framework in the world of web development is, in a way, the open-source content management system WordPress. WordPress provides a framework structure plus a template and a plugin system that can be customized and fine-tuned with “What You See Is What You Get” (WYSIWYG) tools, which do not require coding.

WordPress was first released in 2003 and is an unparalleled success story, with now over a third of all Internet sites using it. As a user-friendly and powerful tool, WordPress is a showcase for how frameworks can take over the world, if they are open and flexible enough.

The WordPress story can in many ways be a role model for XR frameworks, where the technical complexities and dependencies are streamlined into framework solutions targeting specific use cases. The WordPress analogy also allows us to look at the importance of bespoke and original design-driven development, where no framework can match the design vision. In these cases, a custom design is handed over to the developer to be coded. While in the world of web and mobile apps, this handoff has a razor-sharp definition, typically executed in the typical waterfall process, this line is a lot blurrier in XR. The reason is that mature design and prototyping tools, such as Sketch, Figma, and Adobe XD, have developed a developer-friendly interface that makes the handoff crystal clear. There is practically no guesswork from the coding side when a UX/UI designer hands over a Figma-based prototype to be coded.

For original design-driven XR development that is not based on any framework, this interface does not exist at the current point in time. This in turn means that UX designers who are planning to create digital XR products based on custom designs need to resort to the toolset that UX designers were using before Sketch, XD, and Figma took center stage. These tools are as follows: the drawing board, mockups with Photoshop and After Effects, and any application that lets the designer communicate the design concept to a developer. The old-fashioned way of sketching and storyboarding is the core process of this approach. While this method may not be as fast as creating prototypes with a framework, it may in many cases be

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