In this workshop, AR Engineer Jasmine Roberts looks at the real requirements involved in designing for augmented reality (AR) after the demo reel is finished and the technical limitations of actual hardware and real-time tracking are taken into account. Based on her practical experience in developing spatial interfaces, Jasmine will explain the key technical terms that every AR designer needs, such as raycasting, anchors and world tracking, occlusion, plane detection, and the transition from screen space to world space, and will demonstrate how these systems influence what is actually possible to design.

The talk will progress from theory to practice by looking at how interaction models based on raycasting function in cases of cursor-based selection, gaze, hand tracking, and controller targeting, and also at the situations in which they fail: when the target is occluded, when tracking is unstable, and when the user’s intent is ambiguous. It will also examine spatial UI patterns such as depth, scale, and legibility, as well as the physical considerations involved in designing in a way that ensures comfort and prevents motion sickness, eye strain, and disorientation when the interface is surrounding the user rather than being located in front of them.

She will illustrate the various design decisions and the compromises involved by means of a live demonstration of a working prototype that was developed for Snap Spectacles, covering the changes that took place between the initial concept and the version that was actually released to the glasses. The session argues that good design for AR does not consist in pursuing a perfectly accurate tracking situation; instead, it is about designing honestly in light of the limitations of the hardware you are working with, so that the technology remains unseen and the quality of the experience is maintained.