How products are sold is evolving. Every day is about exploring ways to make products look and experience better for end consumers. Digital tools and innovative technologies are widening the design scope at an immersive level where the user fails to differentiate between what is virtual and what’s real. Augmented reality (AR) has become an increasingly valuable tool in this context for creative designers in recent years. An AR design, today, can add oomph to your ideas with a great story.
As we move into 2024, AR is poised to transform the world of creative design and how we perceive it. Top brands prioritize the appearance of products online, including UI/UX, in exciting new ways. This article will explore best practices for implementing AR in design, its key benefits, and notable examples of its use today.
Understanding the role of AR in UX/UI design
Thoughtfully utilizing Augmented Reality can be of immense value for UX/UI designers. The key is leveraging an in-demand technology while focusing on utility and user value. AR experiences should provide helpful contextual information, visualization, or interactions. In short, it can be crucial in improving the overall user experience.
The visual information presented through 3D models via AR is valuable and a big development over the old methods. It is a great mix of virtual and real-world elements to let users interact and engage on a digital platform. Today, AR is finding application in numerous UX designs, especially with developments in mixed reality, from building game experiences to tourism experiences to learning interfaces and much more.
Robust testing of the experience is also crucial to ensure it is useful rather than distracting. AR, when put into use, can elevate the impact of a campaign to a good extent.
Best Augmented Reality design practices you must adopt.
Ensuring a great user experience with AR needs a little bit of work. While you can keep brainstorming on the best approaches, the following practices can help you get there faster with a good AR design.
Focus on utility and user value
AR experiences should provide helpful contextual information, visualization, and user interactions. For instance, creating a learning and training experience is of great value for users across industries and academic centers. Imagine the value a medical training program gets when trainees can first practice surgery in a virtual setting or when soldiers can train themselves for war scenarios with AR.
Keeping visual information intuitive and simple
The visual information should be intuitive and straightforward rather than overly complex. Take the example of a site using AR to model its products. The 3D models should be easy to use, and triggering the AR experience must be a tap away. If it is a complex or multi-step system, most viewers will not give the product a second try.
Detailed testing of user experience
Good testing from the end-user perspective is crucial to ensure AR elements are helpful rather than distracting. Being a new tech, it can be tricky to utilize completely. Thus, regular testing and updates are the best way to ensure smooth functioning.
Using established platforms and tools
Once you start building projects and storing your data on a platform, it creates dependency. You might have difficulty migrating your projects to a different platform later. Hence, picking a reliable platform is crucial. With PlugXR, as your needs evolve, so do our platform capabilities. You’ll always have something bigger and better on your plate to amplify how you create AR projects and bolster your efforts.
Benefits of using AR in design
Newer ideas are bound to get received well. With AR creating a buzz all over the internet, leveraging it to amplify user experience across customer journeys is crucial.
Enhances Visualization and product experience
Thoughtfully designed images, videos, and user interfaces have done wonders in the past. However, today, users expect more than just plain content, especially with top brands raising the bar with three-dimensional and immersive content ideas. For instance, brands like IKEA allow customers to visualize their furniture in their own space. It adds to the overall visualization aspect when people can closely examine the product they are willing to buy.
Makes ideas more immersive and engaging
Engaging the customers’ fancy is one of the most basic requirements for any company to sell its products or services. With AR, ideas can be brought to life in an immersive, engaging way for clients. Brand campaigns from Pizza Hut and Pepsi are the prime examples of the success of such tactics.
An additional layer of information on the product
Adding an AR layer provides extra informational and interactive elements to enrich the user experience and make them feel more included. Instead of viewing a static image or video, viewing the product in their own house notably affects whether the customer will buy a product.
Key examples for AR in design
Here are a few notable examples of how AR is a boon for the design aspect of a brand across its customer journey.
IKEA Place
IKEA Place is one of the first platforms allowing customers to preview how furniture will look in their homes. They use AR in their app and its features to ensure customers feel as close to reality as possible.
Lego AR studio
Lego AR Studio brings Lego creations to life digitally with interactive animations and features. It not only used AR to launch a creative platform but also helped to increase interest in Lego among the younger generation. With AR, each set you buy is no longer just a toy but a story waiting to be unfolded.
Spatial
Spatial is a platform that provides a virtual collaboration space where remote teams can interact with others as they are in a real space with the help of 3D models and content. AR has quickly emerged as a viable solution to the usual business meetings over a video call, with it making you believe you are present in a physical environment.
How will 3D and AR transform creative design in 2024
In 2024, we expect AR to enable more creativity in design. 3D content creation will become more accessible through consumer AR platforms. Multi-user experiences will gain traction, allowing teams to collaborate virtually. AR will become a core part rather than an experiment. This technology will empower Augmented Reality designers to showcase visions like never before. Even bigger companies like Amazon and Google will rely more on it with the emergence of the metaverse and spatial computing as popular ideas among businesses and many famous tech platforms.
Key Takeaways
AR has enormous potential to reimagine what’s possible today. As this technology matures, we can expect it to become an indispensable part of the modern designer’s toolkit in the coming years. The future looks bright for AR-enhanced creativity. For businesses that have yet to bloom, AR design is a golden bird that can help them reignite their business prospects by attracting a new generation of customers who feel AR-based designs and product campaigns are easier to interact with. If you want to add augmented reality to the design process of your brand, get started on the PlugXR platform today. Book a free demo to learn more about us!