AR Design Constraints

I recently tested out a bunch of other artist’s AR experiences and I encountered a series of limitations, disorientations, and general frustrations. It’s the viewport. It’s easy to lose track of objects on screen. It’s incredibly difficult to “buy in” to the immersion. I find that I pay almost no attention the “real world”, so I end up running into things and becoming disoriented. I just don’t know if designing large, spatial AR experiences works on a mobile phone screen. Unless you’re lucky enough to be creating experiences for AR glasses, designing smaller (i.e. table top, face filters, or small printed image targets) experiences might be the way to go. My personal goal is make interactive art for everyone, which means accessibility. And AR glasses are very far away from being ubiquitous.

I realized that I’ve been trying to design fully immersive experiences that (at this point) would work best in VR. SO, I’m going to turn my attention to learning some VR tools. The sort of transformational, hero’s journey story that I’m trying to create will be much more successful in that environment. I won’t lie. I’m a little intimidated … and tired. The last year and half of my life has been a nonstop, hard core learning experience. I’ve learned so many new applications and technologies that I’ve lost count. Thankfully, I like learning (and never intend to stop.)

Wish me luck!