Project Goals
In this speculative design project, I was tasked with designing a virtual reality news reading experience in 2050. The news content for the project is based on what Ireland might look if it were to become more eco-centric and place higher priority on flora and fauna.
The focus of the project was to create a seamless experience for the users to find the news information they are looking for, while also availing of the benefits of upcoming and speculative technologies.
Research
As part of my research, I investigated common news sources in order to learn how users interact with news now. I looked at common news outlets that young people commonly interact with in Ireland and other examples of international printed news. I also looked to modern implementations of these news platforms in order to gain an understanding of how these interactions change.
Visual Research
For my visual research, I examined specifically how online content was being presented to users and explored how recent virtual reality and mixed reality technologies were being explored. This allowed for me to understand the common conventions currently being incorporated, and to speculate as to how these conventions may adapt or change over time.
Iteration
I began to iterate my content in order to create the news content which would be displayed to the user. At this stage, I was focusing on the best way to present multiple articles to the user on a homepage without cluttering the page with too much noise. In these iterations I began to explore simple UI navigation and experimenting with how much content should be displayed at a glance.
I also began to explore how this may be presented within a 3D environment. I made scale models with mock-up panels and later re-created these mock-ups in Unity to better understand the appropriate scale relationship for the user. This was an important step in order to create an experience in which the user would feel comfortable reading the information.
Final Outcome
For my final outcome, I designed a virtual reality prototype news experience in which the user could interact with news within the comfort of their home. The UI navigation is gesture based and articles are paginated as an indication to users how long each article is. The prototype features a voice-reading option, which allows users more ways to process information rather than reading alone, while also consider users who may find reading long-form text more difficult.
The prototype also features immersive technology, which allows the user to artificially immerse themselves in the environment of the story they're reading. This allows for users to feel more of an emotional connection to the story they are reading in order to raise levels of engagement.