Being Human Together: The Limits Of Accessible VR
Speaker: Alastair Somerville
Twitter: @Acuity_Design
Slide Deck: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lularjexa58fn00/Being%20Human%20Together%20-%20the%20limits%20of%20accessible%20VR.pdf?dl=0
- It’s different asking people what they want vs imposing a technological solution to them.
- People don’t want “accessible solutions” … people want memorable experiences to share, now & later
While implementing the VR solution for the UK underground Mail Train system
- We have major issues with the cables, not accessible to wheelchairs or walkers
- We have issues with Visual Interfaces, some users found it actually stressful and scary. Some felt they were in entering the void.
- We have issues with Device hardware: some users couldn’t take the VR glassess off (artritis), some couldn’t even hold the device in their heads (weight)
- We have issues tryint to find good glasses
- VR was inducing terror … stress
Instead, a solution was ideated to create an igloo display (projected on screen a 360 screen) allowing:
- More users to be in the same room
- Share the experience together
- Reduce stress factor (claustrophobia)
Using a human oriented design in the immersive space helped!
Lessons learned
- The google system weren’t safe:
- Users were not able to choose when to leave
- Some users were able to take google offf.
We may design spaces, we have to enable people in how to live their lives in these spaces
Don’t just build accessible solutions. Create Memorable experiences to share, now and later.