The UX of VR

A curated list of resources to help you on your journey into the User Experience of Virtual Reality

Many thanks to all of the authors of the talks, articles, and guides referenced in the list. Without these people doing the hard thinking, Virtual Reality wouldn't be where it is today.

Curated & built with ❤️ by Max Glenister.

Videos

Accessibility and VR
https://youtube.com/watch?v=J1SRkoR4iT0

Brian Van Buren, Tomorrow Today Labs

Articles

Designing for Google Cardboard
https://www.google.com/design/spec-vr/designing-for-google-cardboard/

Google

The hierarchy of needs in virtual reality development
https://medium.com/@beaucronin/the-hierarchy-of-needs-in-virtual-reality-development-4333a4833acc

Beau Cronin

Speculations on neuro-motivated design for VR
https://medium.com/@beaucronin/speculations-on-neuro-motivated-design-for-vr-3f26685c5c40

Beau Cronin

Analyzing VR as a computing platform
https://medium.com/@beaucronin/analyzing-vr-as-a-computing-plaform-f4e53e25d078

Beau Cronin

From product design to Virtual Reality
https://medium.com/google-design/from-product-design-to-virtual-reality-be46fa793e9b

Jean-Marc Denis

The Fundamentals of User Experience in Virtual Reality
http://www.blockinterval.com/project-updates/2015/10/15/user-experience-in-virtual-reality

Daniel Allen

8 Things Every Educational Game Developer Needs to Know
http://blog.leapmotion.com/8-things-every-educational-game-developer-needs-know/

Alex Colgan, Leap Motion

6 Principals of Leap Motion Interaction Design
http://blog.leapmotion.com/6-principles-of-interaction-design/

Alex Colgan, Leap Motion

The Oculus Rift and User Experience
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/10/the-oculus-rift-and-user-experience.php

Peter Hornsby

UX & Virtual Reality - Designing for interfaces without Screens
http://www.uxness.in/2015/08/ux-virtual-reality.html

Prashanth Shanmugam

VRID: A Design Model and Methodology for Developing Virtual Reality Interfaces
http://www.cs.tufts.edu/~jacob/papers/vrst01.tanriverdi.pdf

Vilvan tanriverdi & Robert J.K. Jacob

Immersive Design - Learning to let go of the screen
https://medium.com/backchannel/immersive-design-76499204d5f6

Matt Sundstrom

Mobile VR Application Development: User Interface Guidelines
https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/mobilesdk/latest/concepts/mobile-ui-guidelines-intro/

Oculus

Oculus Best Practices for Creating Great VR Content
https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/intro-vr/latest/concepts/book-bp/

Oculus

VR Best Practice Guidelines
https://developer.leapmotion.com/vr-best-practices

Leap Motion

5 Lessons I learned from designing the VR UI of Beloola
https://medium.com/beloola-all-our-news-updates/5-lessons-i-learned-from-designing-the-vrui-of-beloola-754f16062c0b

Vincent Munoz

Video game user interface design: Diegesis theory
http://devmag.org.za/2011/02/02/video-game-user-interface-design-diegesis-theory/

Dave Russell

Designing VR Tools
http://blog.leapmotion.com/designing-vr-tools-good-bad-ugly/

Alex Colgan, Leap Motion

The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality
http://www.theverge.com/a/virtual-reality

Verge

Virtual Reality User Research: Q & A
https://blinkux.com/blog/virtual-reality-user-research/

Blink UX

Will Virtual Reality Eat Your Brain (Or Save Humanity)?
http://www.realvirtualshow.com/blog/2015/10/28/will-virtual-reality-eat-your-brain-or-save-humanity

Malia Probst

Comfortable VR Movement in Dead Secret
http://robotinvader.com/blog/?p=493

Robot Invader

UX pointers for VR design
https://medium.com/@timoni/ux-pointers-for-vr-design-dd52b718e19

Timoni West

Going after a new VR Navigation System
https://medium.com/beloola-all-our-news-updates/going-after-a-new-vr-navigation-system-5439e0e860a2

Thomas Balouet

Making Great VR: Six Lessons Learned From I Expect You To Die
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/JesseSchell/20150626/247113/

Jesse Schell

Design for Virtual Reality
http://blog.framerjs.com/posts/design-virtual-reality.html

Framer JS Blog

The Swayze Effect
https://storystudio.oculus.com/en-us/blog/the-swayze-effect/

Matt Burdette

Recenter the HMD Before Starting Your Application
https://www.twentymilliseconds.com/post/recentering-hmd-best-practices/

Kevin Burke

VR Interaction Design from the Ground Up
http://blog.leapmotion.com/build-button-workshop-vr-interaction-design-ground/

Alex Colgan, Leap Motion

Unlocking VRs True Potential with UX
https://medium.com/this-place/unlocking-vr-s-true-potential-with-ux-5c31d7367fe

Jim Yang

How to turn a 6 slides keynote into a WebVR experience
http://unboring.net/cases/deepLinking.html

Arturo Paracuellos

Ten Do's And Don'ts To Improve Comfort in VR
http://www.blockinterval.com/project-updates/2015/10/16/ten-ways-to-improve-comfort-in-vr

Daniel Allen

Interaction Considerations for Virtual and Augmented Reality
https://livierickson.com/blog/oreilly-design-2016-interaction-considerations-for-virtual-and-augmented-reality/

Liv Erickson

A Sense of Scale in VR
http://kholdstare.github.io/technical/2013/10/06/sense-of-scale-vr.html

Alexander Kondratskiy

Get started with VR: user experience design
http://www.vrinflux.com/the-basics-of-virtual-reality-ux/

Adrienne Hunter

Buttons in Virtual Reality - A UI/UX Design Approach
http://realityshift.io/blog/buttons-in-virtual-reality-a-ui-ux-design-approach

Reality Shift

A UX Designers Guide to Combat VR Sickness
http://realityshift.io/blog/a-ux-designers-guide-to-combat-vr-sickness

Reality Shift

You’re the center of the universe: A UX guide to designing virtual reality experiences
http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/philosophy/ux-guide-designing-virtual-reality-experiences

Samantha Anderson

The Storyteller’s Guide to the Virtual Reality Audience
https://medium.com/stanford-d-school/the-storyteller-s-guide-to-the-virtual-reality-audience-19e92da57497

Katy Newton, Karin Soukup

Cause & Effect— VR’s Essential Interaction
https://medium.com/@WizardofAz/cause-effect-vr-s-essential-interaction-efff0471b470

Azad Balabanian

The UX of VR: How to design user experiences for this new medium
http://www.creativebloq.com/ux/the-user-experience-of-virtual-reality-31619635

Laura Cortes

The user is disabled: solving for physical limitations in VR
http://vrinflux.com/the-user-is-disabled-solving-for-physical-limitations-in-vr/

Adrienne Hunter

NewtonVR: Physics-based interaction on the Vive (Part 1)
http://vrinflux.com/newton-vr-physics-based-interaction-on-the-vive/

Nick Abel

Limbo - dolly shots for cinematic VR
http://uploadvr.com/introducing-limbo-a-vr-camera-movement-technique-by-the-developers-of-colosse/

Daniel Sproll

The Fidelity Contract in VR
http://zanytomato.tumblr.com/post/140725769440/the-fidelity-contract-in-vr

Kimberly Voll

Design Practices in Virtual Reality
https://medium.com/@jonathanravasz/design-practices-in-virtual-reality-f900f5935826

Jonathan Ravasz

Social VR Solutions: How to design Social VR so it isn’t awful
http://suzanimator.com/2016/05/10/social-vr-solutions/

Suzanne Leibrick

The Climb VR Menu
https://www.behance.net/gallery/36973013/The-Climb-VR-Menu

Riho Kroll

Virtual is Reality Again : Interface vs Interference Design 2014
https://medium.com/@LarryRosenthal/virtual-is-reality-again-interface-vs-interference-design-2014-6361e6f45b8c

Larry Rosenthal

UI / UX design patterns in virtual reality
http://realityshift.io/blog/ui-ux-design-patterns-in-virtual-reality

Reality Shift

AR / VR Teleportation Concepts
http://www.albert-hwang.com/blog/2016/5/ar-teleportation-concepts

Albert Hwang

Beyond Reality: First steps into the unknown
https://medium.com/kickpush-design/beyond-reality-first-steps-into-the-unknown-cbb19f039e51

Sam Applebee

Hand Tracked Controls in VR - The Basics
http://blog.mattnewport.com/hand-tracked-controls-in-vr-the-basics/

Matt Newport

Hand Tracked Controls in VR - Throwing
http://blog.mattnewport.com/hand-tracked-controls-in-vr-throwing/

Matt Newport

Design Insights for Virtual Reality UX
https://medium.com/@Punchcut/design-insights-for-virtual-reality-ux-7ae41a0c5a1a

Punchcut

Goodbye Metaphors, Hello World— Interface Design in Virtual Reality
https://medium.com/yvr/goodbye-metaphors-hello-world-interface-design-in-virtual-reality-d2462e52a029

Austin McCasland

Virtual Reality Development Tips
http://www.doolwind.com/blog/virtual-reality-development-tips/

Alistair Doulin

Exploring Methods for Conveying Object Weight in Virtual Reality
http://www.roadtovr.com/b-reel-simulating-object-weight-mass-virtual-reality-motion-controllers/

Ben Lang

Don’t teleport. Fly!: How to do it in VR without motion sickness
https://medium.com/yvr/dont-teleport-fly-b175a5c8fd73#.nx9b0gukm

Andre Le

Your brain on virtual reality: The psychology of virtual reality
http://formforthought.com/psychology-of-virtual-reality-vr-design/

Lauren Kelly

Being a superhero in VR makes you a better person
http://formforthought.com/psychology-positive-effects-of-virtual-reality-vr-behaviour/

Lauren Kelly

Reducing cognitive load in VR: 6 ways to improve your VR UX
https://medium.com/@namegoeshere/reducing-cognitive-load-in-vr-d922ef8c6876

Adrienne Hunter

Making Sense of Skyboxes in VR Design: How the physics of our real world translate to VR design practices.
https://medium.com/aol-alpha/making-sense-of-skyboxes-in-vr-design-3e9f8fe254d3

Tessa Chung

A multiplayer approach to collaborative decision-making
https://medium.com/yvr/a-multiplayer-approach-to-collaborative-decision-making-9b3e0747112a

Andre Le

Practical VR: A Design Cheat Sheet.
https://medium.com/@hitsmachines/practical-vr-ce80427e8e9d

Ryan Betts

The Concept of Presence in Virtual Reality
https://medium.com/@choongchingteo/the-concept-of-presence-in-virtual-reality-6d4332dc1a9c

Teo Choong Ching

How to Take Better 360 Photos
https://medium.com/virohq/how-to-take-better-360-photos-cde446994947

Robin Har

VR & Accessibility
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/IanHamilton/20161031/284491/VR__accessibility.php

Ian Hamilton

4 Things I learned Designing User Interfaces for VR at Disney.
https://medium.com/startup-grind/4-things-i-learned-designing-user-interfaces-for-vr-cc08cac9e7ec

James Hsu

Methods of Analyzing Your VR Experience
https://medium.com/@alless91/methods-of-analyzing-your-vr-experience-dbdfe0ea2edd

Ali Eslami

Designing VR for Mobile
https://medium.com/virohq/designing-vr-for-mobile-47bc665ab977

Robin Har

Realism, expectations, and the fidelity contract in VR design
https://medium.com/@namegoeshere/realism-expectations-and-the-fidelity-contract-in-vr-design-3782485bd054

Adrienne Hunter

Design a pleasant user experience inside the VR
https://blog.prototypr.io/design-a-pleasant-user-experience-inside-the-vr-a76320c69fdf

Sophie Riwaters

VR interfaces versus traditional interfaces
http://blog.ruisystem.net/virtual-reality/vr-interfaces-versus-traditional-interfaces/

Tuukka Takala

Considerations for VR developers
http://blog.ruisystem.net/virtual-reality/considerations-vr-developers-2016/

Tuukka Takala

Oculus: Hand Tracking - Interactions
https://developer.oculus.com/learn/hands-design-interactions/

Oculus

Slides

Other

VR Design Lab - Unity project
https://github.com/VRUX-CO/VRDesignLab

Open source VR design examples by VRUX.co

Focal Point VR - Unity Demo Scenes
http://www.albert-hwang.com/focal-point-vr

An Open-Source VR Interaction Framework for the HTC Vive and Unity by Albert Hwang

NewtonVR - Unity framework
http://www.newtonvr.com

A free, physics based, VR Interaction Framework for the HTC Vive and Unity by Tomorrow Today Labs

A-Frame - Building blocks for the virtual reality web
https://aframe.io/

ThreeJS/WebGL/WebVR Framework. Use markup to create VR experiences that work across desktop, iOS, Android, and the Oculus Rift.

SteamVR Unity Toolkit
https://github.com/thestonefox/SteamVR_Unity_Toolkit

A collection of useful scripts and prefabs for building SteamVR titles in Unity 5.

Game accessibility guidelines
http://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/

A straightforward reference for inclusive game design

Hover UI Kit
http://hovervr.com/

A pre-built 'interface module' provided with Hover UI by Zach Kinstner

The VR Glossary
http://www.vrglossary.org/

The ultimate resource for virtual reality terminology

Prototool
http://prototool.co/

Create, test & share VR design mockups

Microsoft: Fluent Design System
http://fluent.microsoft.com

An eloquent design system for a complex world. Now’s the time for bold, scalable, universal design.

Daydream Elements
https://developers.google.com/vr/elements/overview

A collection of tech demos that showcase principles and best practices for developing high-quality VR experiences

VRTK - Virtual Reality Toolkit
https://github.com/thestonefox/VRTK

VRTK is based on NewtonVR (which is listed), and is a very popular interaction toolkit for Unity.

Curated & built with ❤️ by Max Glenister.