An Incredible New Tech

Augmented Reality has been the talk of the town for quite some time now. With its inventive ability and ingenious applications, this amazing technology promises to have incredible influence over the realm of gaming, gambling, health, finance, etc. There are many uses for this industry-shaping technology and one of the most obvious influences that AR will have is how it will effectively impact the way we perceive the fascinating art of the user experience.

By reading this article, user experience aficionados will get a glimpse into the future, getting to understand how Augmented Reality will influence the user experience in the years to come.

What is Augmented Reality?

Before getting to know how this tech will impact the user experience, it’s fundamental to get a sense of what AR is all about. Augmented Reality is actually an interactive experience of an environment that mirrors the real world.

In this reality, the objects are augmented by computer-generated visual information across diverse sensory modalities which include somatosensory, visual, auditory, and olfactory. This incredible technology is the product of using tech to superimpose information such as sounds, text or images.

It really has become part of our lives through video games. Indeed, in 2016, Pokémon Go became a galactic sensation, conquering the hearts of fans all over the world. With over 100 million dedicated players at the height of its immense popularity, the game has actually made more than $2 billion to this day. This Augmented Reality experience has allowed users to see different Pokémon happily go about their towns, city centers, national parks, etc.

Pokémon Go is actually regarded as a watershed moment for this incredible tech. Even though it has acquired a massive fan base, it promises to be only the beginning for this revolution, making sure new applications for this phenomenally advanced tech will be created in the near future. Until they are, it’s important for readers to get a sense of what are the current uses of Augmented Reality.

Industries that Use Augmented Reality

It may seem too futuristic but the reality is that AR has now become one of the ultimate drivers of the tech boom. According to recent studies, the total value of this highly-inventive market is going to reach an astonishing $100 billion by the year 2020. Moreover, in 2018 alone, Pokémon Go made $800 million in in-app purchases, an average of $2.2 million per day.

This means AR headsets, apps, and sundry smart glasses have been able to wow users, making sure that AR interaction will impact every single industry in the world, from industrial manufacturing to gaming, to health, and even retail. With the awesome potential of being able to help solve some of the planet’s biggest irresoluble problems, AR will have a tremendous impact all over the world and much sooner than expected.

But what are the key industries that are already taking advantage of AR? Here’s a short list:

• Retail. Indeed, there are brands which have already developed an AR app that buyers can use in stores
• Business Logistics. With AR presenting a unique opportunity to reduce costs and increase efficiency, optimize transportation, route optimization and warehousing, logistics are already being changed by AR tech power
• Entertainment. AR is proving to be quite the marketing opportunity because it allows entertainment companies to take the experience a step further, letting consumers dive deep into a highly-interactive product
• Education. Students can now attend a class using AR apps which allow them to feel like they’re being part of the classroom ambiance. The use of AR in education is bound to allow more people to access specific lessons and modules, even if they live 100 miles from school

Now that we’ve seen how AR is already showcasing an obvious influence in a variety of different arenas, it’s time to understand how AR will impact the user experience. 

5 Ways Augmented Reality Will Influence UX/UI

1. Design Becomes More User-Friendly

One of the most important aspects of being a successful UX/UI designer is being able to actually promote the creation of a user-friendly product. But how will the shapers of the Augmented Reality design process create that once-in-a-lifetime, super user-friendly app, website, or game?

Since AR will dramatically reduce the cognitive tasks of users, it will help turn design into a more powerful and mighty user-friendly tool. Smart TV, smart cars, and any possible smart gadgets that might make use of AR don’t actually mean UX/UI experts must redesign new products.

However, it will mean they will gain a tremendously exciting chance to redesign and redefine products that take ease of usability into account to create something truly special, elevating Augmented Reality UX design.

2. The Crucial Feedback

What is the most important thing about users? Learning from their invaluable feedback to be able to continue improving the user experience. With AR, designers will have the chance to get feedback faster than ever before.

This real-time feedback will actually help users get specific live results based on previous actions, whereas before they would have to get data that was static. This feedback is going to be rapidly sent by users and received by UX/UI aficionados, ensuring they can continually develop the user experience, making it more personal.

UX/UI designers can also take advantage of this quick feedback to ensure users make correct decisions and avoid mistakes, boosting productivity levels and contributing to a remarkably sharp Augmented Reality user interface design.

3. A World of Possibilities

Steps, transitions, gradients, numbers, graphs, sentences, and strategically inserted images. All of these can help create a great user experience or taunt the patience of users. With Augmented Reality capabilities, designers can rest assured, knowing they will have a great deal of information to take advantage of.

UX/UI designers can see AR lower costs for the specific execution of a given task. By minimizing the actual number of required steps, users will receive a huge deal of information, which means that the need for research may be done with.

Moreover, AR will lower the cognitive burden of all users by actually taking care of tasks for them. AR actually interprets, informs, and recognizes all by itself. This intelligent ability will allow AR technologies to be simple to use, which will mean that UX/UI experts must create a streamlined user experience that takes this extraordinary ease-of-use into account.

Last but not least, AR will effectively gain information from different sources, which means it will provide decision-confidence. In fact, users will access all-around info, which means efforts will be minimized.

This minimal effort will forcibly impact UX/UI design, and help professionals understand how to become an AR designer, ensuring the user experience has to be crafted bearing reduced human interaction in mind. 

4. The Notion of Space

Before AR, experts knew that all visual content existed in 2D. This is one of the interaction design principles that define what is good UX. From television shows to dramatic movies, to online ads, UX/UI professionals knew they had to deal with a 2D platform every single time.

With AR, this will change. Whereas before all language was immediately codified into 2D UX/UI, AR will now allow 3D to gain ascendancy.

This 3D aspect will apply to every single industry, with AR glasses showing directions around us, within the world we inhabit, coupled with added content that might be inserted along the way. This 3D phenomenon will probably represent the biggest challenge for UX/UI experts, ensuring they must be able to take 3D experiences to a whole new level.

Designing AR environments in 3D is a huge challenge, since it will showcase a completely new platform or palette, filled with perceptual opportunities for actively engaging users with narrative storytelling. This complexification will be a fundamental part of the user experience of the future.

5. The Attention Issue

How will attention be changed by AR and how will that impact UX/UI possibilities? Using a normal app to guide users through tasks makes sure they have to switch their focus and attention from the task to the screen all the time. They may need to go through a variety of different screens to get diverse types of info and use the data collected on the different screens to go about their day.

An Augmented Reality designer will now be able to simplify this process, using Augmented Reality best practices to do it.

How? By actually integrating information from various sources in the visual field.

This means UX/UI experts will have to create something that helps users avoid this back-and-forth of reaching for different info, allowing them to access info in a way that takes the tech’s full-blown possibilities and AR design principles to the max.

UX/UI Meets AR

Augmented Reality is already changing the lives of people all over the world since it’s used in many different areas, fields, and industries. With a whole new conceptualization of 3D reality, the simplification of tasks for all users, and the ability to provide informative feedback that allows for continuous user experience improvements, Augmented Reality is bound to shift the principles of good UX design, completely altering its definition, importance, and influence in the process.

In the future, the user experience will be more streamlined than ever, promising to change the way users interact with products, and ensuring this powerful tech will increase interaction, connect with people, and establish deeper meanings for design itself.