Multi-app management for next-gen XR operating systems

MS HCDE Capstone Project

Jan 2020 - Jun 2020

Note: XR is an umbrella term that covers the entire spectrum from Augmented Reality(AR), Mixed Reality(MR) to Virtual Reality(VR).

🤩 People are familiar with using multiple applications simultaneously for multitasking on desktops and mobile devices. Our team imagines a future where this ability of running multiple applications together is also provided by XR devices like HoloLens, MagicLeap and various Virtual Reality Headsets.

🤷🏽‍♂️ It is challenging for designers and developers to build these experiences as there are no established design patterns and a lot of concepts are unexplored due to a lack of research on this topic.

Our Solution —

We created the XR Multitasking Design Guide which designers and developers can use to ensure that the multitasking systems they build, provide a good user experience.

The design guide consists of:

  1. A set of system requirements (for using as reference)

  2. User validated designs that solve a subset of these requirements (for using as inspiration)

Project summary video

Project summary video

...and we published an article that summarizes our key findings –

6 things you should know if you are designing the UX of an XR multi-application management system