Carina Söderlund & Pete Evans
Co-design in Immersive VR Something Old, Something New, Something Else… Introduction In the following text we will cover the areas of participatory and collaborative design (co-design) in immersive collaborative virtual environments (CVEs), as well as the experiences of the body and mind while designing together in virtual reality (VR). The aim is to explore immersive VR as a media for co-design, with anticipation of the potential use of this media for participatory design and co-design. The purpose is to investigate if and how immersive VR can facilitate co-design experiences and the collaborative making process, in order to establish a basis for future co-design studies in immersive VR including potential users and other relevant participants. The present study is delimited to exhibit design, more specifically, the design of museum exhibits and low fidelity prototyping (lo-fi prototyping), with focus on the initial phases of the design process, as well as the ideation and the design of low-fidelity (lo-fi) prototypes. We’ll begin with an introduction to contemporary design approaches, or more specifically, human centered design and participatory design as a codesign approach. This will be followed by a note on the development of VRtechnology where we’ll look at some of the examples of current research that are close to the theme, besides, there is an reflection on the core concepts real, virtual, and actual. Then we’ll continue with a presentation of prototyping as a co-design method, including contemporary cognitive psychology theories which highlight the body, mind, space, and interactions that take place with a diversity of tools as part of our thinking process during prototyping. Next, we’ll describe the method in further detail, namely, through sharing an introspective study conducted by two co-designers (the authors of this text). In the final section, we’ll present a reflection and analysis of the introspections regarding the actions, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and sensations (sensory and bodily perceptual experiences) that take place while codesigning in an immersive CVE. In order to analyze the key moments and experiences when co-designing, the empirical data have been illuminated by theories on direct perception and design fixations, for instance, which emerged during the study and analysis of the findings. Finally, we will conclude by offering proposals for future research and tentative suggestions regarding co-designing in immersive CVEs, i.e., their metaphorical qualities and how they may affect the designed artifact, and how immersive VR technology supports a design relationship among co-designers, which may open up a sincere and genuine dialog when co-designing remotely. 216
