Designing for the Subconscious and Anticipatory Design in Spatial Design for XR

Understanding User Behaviour in XR Environments

The Subconscious Spectrum of User Interaction

Spatial design for XR requires an acknowledgment of how users interact with virtual and augmented realities. Subconscious factors significantly influence these interactions:

- Immersion and Comfort: Users must feel psychologically and physically safe within a virtual space. Designing environments that consider comfort elements—such as visual stability and minimal motion sickness—can enhance immersion. A study by Usoh et al. (2000) highlights that users’ emotional responses and comfort levels greatly affect their experiences in virtual environments.

- Intuitive Navigation: Utilising familiar metaphors from the physical world can help users navigate XR spaces. Cognitive load theory (Sweller, 1988) suggests that minimising extraneous cognitive load allows users to focus on essential tasks. Designers can apply this by creating recognisable spatial cues that guide users’ movements subconsciously.


The Role of Cognitive Bias in Design

Cognitive biases can be leveraged to craft spatial environments that enhance user experiences. Recognising biases helps designers create spaces that facilitate subconscious engagement:

- Framing Effects: The way information and spatial arrangements are presented can impact user perception and decision-making. Research shows that users may prioritise certain virtual objects or paths based on how they are framed (Tversky & Kahneman, 1981). Designers can create dynamic environments that highlight relevant features or actions based on predictive modelling.

Anticipation in Spatial Design

Anticipatory design is essential for crafting XR experiences that resonate with users seamlessly:

Context Awareness

- Personalised Experiences: Using data analytics to understand user behaviour allows designers to create XR spaces that adapt based on prior interactions. For instance, virtual environments might adjust ambient lighting and sound based on user preferences and profiles—a practice supported by Liu et al. (2019), who discuss context-aware systems in XR.

User-Centric Methods

- Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Leveraging user personas can lead to insights about emotional states and needs. Designers should consider how users express frustration or delight in XR environments. The work of Björk et al. (2017) on emotional design highlights the critical relationship between user emotions and overall experience in digital spaces.

Streamlined Decision-Making

- Guiding Actions: In XR, usability can be enhanced by simplifying interactions through spatial design. For example, using gesture controls that are contextually appropriate can reduce decision fatigue. Hart & Staveland’s (1988) workload model indicates that minimising cognitive load in task environments leads to increased user satisfaction.