Resources
What is XR?
XR is an umbrella term that covers three related but distinct technologies: Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). Together, they form a spectrum called the Reality-Virtuality Continuum, first described by Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino in 1994. On one end sits the fully physical world. On the other, full immersion in a digital one. AR and MR occupy the space in between.
Virtual Reality (VR)
VR replaces your entire visual field with a computer-generated environment. You wear a head-mounted display (HMD) that tracks the position and orientation of your head, updating the visuals in real time so the experience feels spatially coherent. When done well, VR creates a powerful sense of presence, the feeling that you are actually inside the virtual environment.
Current leading VR platforms:
Meta Quest 3 and Quest Pro: Standalone headsets (no PC required) with inside-out tracking, hand tracking, and colour passthrough cameras for MR experiences. The Quest 3 is the market leader for consumer VR as of 2025.
Apple Vision Pro: Apple's spatial computing device, released in 2024. Uses eye tracking, hand gestures, and voice as primary inputs. Positions itself as a productivity and media device as much as a VR/MR platform.
PlayStation VR2: Sony's tethered headset for PS5 gaming, featuring eye tracking and adaptive triggers.
Valve Index: A PC-based enthusiast headset with high refresh rates and precise controller tracking, popular in gaming and simulation.
Augmented Reality (AR)
AR overlays digital content on the real world. Unlike VR, you remain visually present in your physical environment. The digital content - text, images, 3D objects - appears to exist in your space. AR experiences exist across several form factors:
AR glasses: Lightweight eyewear with transparent displays that overlay content directly in your field of view. The Microsoft HoloLens 2 is the dominant enterprise option. Consumer AR glasses remain an emerging category as of 2025, with Meta, Google, and Snap all developing hardware.
Smartphone AR: Apps using the phone's camera and display to overlay content. Apple ARKit and Google ARCore enable developers to build these experiences. Think IKEA Place, which lets you visualise furniture in your home, or Pokemon Go.
Web AR: AR experiences that run in a browser, using frameworks like A-Frame, 8thWall, or Zappar's WebAR. No app download required, which makes distribution much simpler.
Mixed Reality (MR)
MR is a more precise version of AR. Where AR typically places digital content on a flat 2D plane in your view, MR anchors digital objects to real-world surfaces and allows them to interact with the physical environment. A virtual ball that bounces off your actual desk is MR. A floating label that appears over a product is AR.
The distinction has blurred as hardware has improved. The Meta Quest 3 uses its colour passthrough cameras to create what Meta calls 'mixed reality' —-you can see your actual room in high quality while virtual objects appear to exist within it.
The Market Landscape
The XR industry has undergone significant maturation since the first wave of consumer VR excitement in 2016. After a period of tempered expectations, the market has stabilised around real use cases: gaming, enterprise training, healthcare, education, and design. Key trends shaping the landscape:
Standalone headsets have won the consumer market: PC-tethered experiences are increasingly reserved for enterprise and enthusiasts.
Hand tracking is becoming standard: Controllers remain dominant for gaming, but hand tracking and gesture-based interaction are growing across platforms.
Spatial computing is the preferred enterprise framing: Apple Vision Pro's positioning as a spatial computer - rather than a VR headset - signals a shift in how platforms are marketed to professionals.
WebXR is growing: Browser-based XR reduces friction enormously and enables XR to reach audiences who will never buy a headset.
AI integration is accelerating: Generative AI tools are being embedded directly into XR workflows - for content generation, spatial understanding, and interaction design.
Who Is Designing for XR?
XR design is cross-disciplinary. The roles involved include:
UX/UI Designers: Bring human-centred design methodology and interaction design skills. Need to learn spatial design principles - which is exactly what this course is for.
3D Artists and Motion Designers: Bring visual and technical asset creation skills. Need to learn interaction and user experience.
Game Designers: Bring mechanics, feedback loops, and immersive experience design. Need to adapt their skills from entertainment to broader use cases.
Developers: Bring technical implementation capability. Unity and Unreal Engine developers are in high demand across the industry.
As a designer entering this space, your existing UX skills - empathy for users, ability to structure information, comfort with iteration - are genuinely valuable. The learning curve is about acquiring new spatial instincts, not starting over.
From UX to XR
You already think about platform differences - iOS vs Android, mobile vs desktop. Apply the same thinking here.
Just like you design for different screen sizes and input methods, you'll design for different XR form factors. The principle (know your platform constraints) is identical. The constraints themselves are new.
Start by asking: what input does this platform support? How much space does the user have? These are your new equivalents of 'is this touch or cursor?
Activity | Platform Comparison Exercise
Pick two XR platforms, Meta Quest 3 and Apple Vision Pro are a good starting point, but any two work. Research their input methods, target audiences, and design guidelines. Use the template below to get started, then add your own observations as you go.
The goal isn't to memorise specs. It's to start thinking like a spatial designer: where hardware decisions become design constraints, and where "which platform?" is actually a design question, not just a technical one.
By the end, you should be able to say in two or three sentences what each platform is best suited for, and what you'd have to give up on each.
Reflection Prompt
Think about a digital product you've designed or used recently. What would be genuinely better if it existed in XR? What would be worse?
Write a short paragraph - don't overthink it, just react honestly. What you find easy and hard to imagine in XR tells you something about where your spatial design instincts are already strong and where they need work.
Key Takeaways
XR is a spectrum, not a single technology. Know which part of the spectrum you're designing for.
Each platform has distinct constraints and conventions — your job is to learn them, not fight them.
WebXR is the easiest entry point for sharing XR prototypes. Anyone with a browser can view your work.