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

VR Interface Design Pre-Visualisation Methods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id86HeV-Vb8

Mike Alger

VR Interface Design Manifesto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3b8hZ5NV2E

Mike Alger

UI/UX design for WebVR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOaOYTOpwyM

Josh Carpenter

Designing for Virtual Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwh1LBzz3AU

Manuel Clément, Google I/O 2015

UX in VR: Designing For Virtual Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM1AnOqaE-w

Laura Cortes & Cyriele Piancastelli

Designing for Virtual Reality
http://www.uxforvirtualreality.com/my-designing-for-virtual-reality-lightning-talk/

Rebecca Torbochkin

Virtual Reality UX UI: A video gallery of interactions
https://gist.github.com/omgmog/d2371c861b2232ac2c445ee34af8edb6

Interaction Design in VR: Valve's Lessons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vQo0ApkAtI

Yasser Malaika

The Holodeck is here - Designing for Room-Scale VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8mku0JvuLI

Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer

Technical and Design Tips for VR/AR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2T0dwGYP0s

Jay Santos & Pete Moss

The Dawn of Mobile VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqdexZJFHQE

John Carmack

Navigating New Worlds: Designing UI and UX in VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=braV_c4M8oI

Kristoffer Brady & Richard Emms

Virtual Reality is a Medium: Creating Art with Oculus Touch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqrftCjQ4Q8

Lydia Choy & Brian Sharp

Designing Standing VR Experiences with Tracked Controllers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjc7AJwZ4DI

Alex Schwartz & Devin Reimer (Owlchemy Labs)

Designing for VR: Environments and Interactions
https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/misslivirose/Designing-for-VR-Environments-and-Interactions

Liv Erickson, Just A/VR (MSDN)

Designing for VR: Input, Planning, and Testing
https://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/misslivirose/Designing-for-VR-Input-Planning-and-Testing

Liv Erickson, Just A/VR (MSDN)

Future VR Input & UX Solutions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILw_-rNNsxE

Stephen Tanguay

Building Better Worlds - Virtual Wearable Interfaces + More
https://www.youtube.com/watch?=kX5mMfhRjJo

David Holz (Leap Motion)

Documentation for Focal Point VR - An interaction design framework for Unity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzItw0i45Do

Albert Hwang

Building 3-Dimensional UI for VR
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023652/Building-3-Dimensional-UI-for-VR

Riho Kroll

The Role of Space in VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNs7C-kHdM4

Alex Chu

Don't just teleport - How to walk around something that is bigger than your tracked space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_Zac4Xezw

Daniel Sproll & Diego Montoya

VR Microtalks: Intersections of Design & Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtCuLd3wpEw

VRDC 2016

VR Design: Transitioning from a 2D to 3D Design Paradigm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjnHr_6WSqo

Alex Chu

Daydream Labs: Lessons Learned from VR Prototyping
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGUmTQgbiAY

Google I/O 2016

VR Design Process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mcXAMDch7s

Google I/O 2016

Going VR: The Future of UI Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7plTOgTV-M

Jerome Lacote

Designing for Daydream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00vzW2-PvvE

Google I/O 2016

Turn on, Tune in, Drop out: The Virtual is Real.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w4ofjGmQow

Howard Goldkrand

Let's Go Cyberspace - Virtual Reality UX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFJYkfQdLmU

Timoni West

Locomotion in VR: Overview of different locomotion methods on HTC Vive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0YxzgQG2-E

Bumble

The current state of UX and VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZQB1705inM

Thomas Gläser (CoSpaces)

Cognitive Psychology of Virtual Reality Basics, Problems and Tips
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81f_QHRxQOs

Thomas Bedenk

HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Hardware Requirements Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbY_GtaloaQ

Logical Increments

Shapeshifter: humuncular flexibility in virtual reality
https://vimeo.com/178716591

Harry Brenton

UX/UI Design for VR and Mixed Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxV-1pJ2hjk

John Howard (LOOOK Inc)

10 UX Challenges to Consider in VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R-UN0vPWX8

Adrienne Hunter & Eva Hoerth

Flying through (virtual) reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGiqq12mdUs

Patrik Künzler

Hand-Tracked Controls: Design and Implementation for Serious VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYdEO-zIjlw

Matt Newport (OssoVR)

Integrating 2D UI with VR Environments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78F_HNWuqbw

Bradley Davis

VR Design Lessons from Multiplatform First Person Gaming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcYhESXi0c

Rafael Brown

Wandering the Frontiers of Virtual Reality UX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f2OgAyjDVU&list=PLA27jL5mOsuXdOup1ejEJ3h1L1cWTgGJr

Edward Moore (AMPED-UX)

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

Brian Van Buren, Tomorrow Today Labs

Designing Screen Interfaces for VR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ES9jArHRFHQ

Google I/O '17

NN/g - The Metaverse and User Experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rorrYIiUPsM

Jakob Nielsen

NN/g - Virtual Reality and User Experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4GVG4C2BcE

Jakob Nielsen

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

UX in VR: Designing For Virtual Reality
http://www.slideshare.net/LauraCortes9/talk-ux-uxinvrunit9

Laura Cortes & Cyriele Piancastelli

The rise of VR & AR era. Why this time is different?
http://www.slideshare.net/VRyzhonkov/the-rise-of-vr-ar-era-why-this-time-is-different

Vasily Ryzhonkov

Running User Tests for VR Games
http://www.slideshare.net/uxbri/steve-bromley-running-user-tests-for-vr-games

Steve Bromley

Lessons learned porting Team Fortress 2 to Virtual Reality
http://media.steampowered.com/apps/valve/2013/Team_Fortress_in_VR_GDC.pdf

Joe Ludwig

Virtual Reality Human Interface Guidelines
http://vrhig.com/

Brett Red

Virtual RealityDesign Principles with Google Cardboard
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5HxukasM-KiSjFPaEJELWRxbkU

Swapnil Borkar

Sustainable UX in VR
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OTXaz3RuV0HWgM754PRMUC7d2KYVHH974s5hnAt53wk

Dr. Pete Markiewicz

Designing the future of Augmented Reality
http://www.slideshare.net/carinangai/designing-the-future-of-augmented-reality

Carina Ngai

The Frontiers of Virtual & Augmented Reality User Experience
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1TMbvwudDoWX-uy951HppecInbbyJwzAIGMu5w_l4Fj4/edit

Edward Moore (AMPED-UX)

More Ways to Make Your Users Sick – A talk about WebVR and UX Design
https://www.slideshare.net/geildanke/more-ways-to-make-your-users-sick-a-talk-about-webvr-and-ux-design

Michaela Lehr (GeilDanke)

Books

3D User Interfaces: Theory and Practice
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0201758679

Doug A. Bowman, Ernst Kruijff, Ivan Poupyrev Joseph J. LaViola

Learning Virtual Reality: Developing Immersive Experiences and Applications for Desktop, Web, and Mobile
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1491922834

Tony Parisi

Virtual Reality in Journalism
https://towcenter.gitbooks.io/virtual-reality-journalism/content/index.html

Raney Aronson-Rath, James Milward, Taylor Owen and Fergus Pitt

Oculus Rift in Action
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1617292192

Bradley Davis, Karen Bryla, Alex Benton

Computers as Theatre
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0321918622

Brenda Laurel

The VR Book: Human-Centered Design for Virtual Reality
http://www.morganclaypoolpublishers.com/catalog_Orig/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=844

Jason Jerald

VR UX: Learn VR UX, Storytelling & Design
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1533273022

Casey Fictum

Designing for Mixed Reality: Blending Data, AR, and the Physical World
http://www.oreilly.com/design/free/designing-for-mixed-reality.csp

Kharis O'Connell

VIRTUAL REALITY
http://vr.cs.uiuc.edu/

Steven M. LaValle

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.

WebVR Mockup boilerplate for VR Designers
https://medium.com/beloola-all-our-news-updates/web-mockups-for-vr-designers-cca2ba234b67#.ibl0gsegt

Vincent Munoz/Beloola

Tools of the Trade: Applications for AR/VR Design
http://designation.io/blog/tools-of-the-trade-applications-for-arvr-design/

Aaron Faucher

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

3 Steps Towards Designing for AR/VR
http://blog.proto.io/3-steps-towards-designing-arvr/

Google VR Concepts: Spatial Audio
https://developers.google.com/vr/concepts/spatial-audio

VR Resources from Facebook
http://facebook.design/vr

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.

UX Framework for VR Mobile (Spanish)
https://beeva-labs.github.io/ux-vr-framework/

Salvador Valle (BEEVA Labs)

Curated & built with ❤️ by Max Glenister.