At Circuit Stream, we’re always looking for ways to improve and serve the growing needs of individuals who are entering the AR/VR industry. And lately, we’ve been quite busy!
With the recent popularity and feedback from the students and alumni of the 10-week Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR course, it was obvious that we had to develop and build another course that is aimed at complete design beginners: both beginners at design or designers who are getting in touch with the immersive technologies for the first time.
It wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t give the responsibility of the course to one of the best XR designers in the industry — Aleatha Singleton. Aleatha has more than 20-years of professional design experience. Since 2016 she has been focusing her professional career in immersive technologies, and is one of the first professionals who entered the XR design industry. To say she’s the thought leader and pioneer of the field, would be an understatement.
First things first — what’s this new course all about?
*XR or Extended Reality is an umbrella term that encapsulates AR, VR, and MR under the same roof.
Why the New Course?
The growth of XR is extremely fast. Every week, there’s a new software tool, use case, or new way to approach the design problems.
XR is still a nascent technology and the standards are still being constructed as we speak. While the industry is evolving and offering more and more tools, there are obvious clear best practices that stood the test of time, and have served well to beginners who are entering this exciting industry.
The new course, UX Design Fundamentals for XR, delivers these fundamentals in a concise and brief package. Students who take this course will be immediately brought to speed and built a solid understanding in the field of XR Design. It’s the perfect starting point!
The New Course: UX Design Fundamentals for XR
The new course, aimed at beginner designers (and also suitable for non-designers) is a 40-hour on-demand video course that will give you the solid fundamentals for understanding the difference between traditional and immersive design.
The course is broken up into four units:
UX Best Practices for XR - learn to understand the XR spectrum, specific human-centered design principles for XR and avoid common pitfalls.
Design Research - learn how to use inspiration and analyze and convert 2D into 3D thinking and apply basic information architecture for XR.
Early Design Ideation - learn how to break out of 2D and sketch interaction flows for VR while identifying assets and needs for the final UX designs.
Rapid Prototyping and Testing - get familiar with the modern XR design tools and use them to prototype solutions for XR while performing and conducting basic usability UX tests.
Each unit will lay the foundation for understanding the UX best practices and approach to design solutions for augmented (AR), virtual (VR) and mixed realities (XR).
By the end of the self-paced, on-demand course you will be able to:
Apply the process of designing new experiences for immersive technologies.
Identify the difference between designing for web and mobile software in XR.
Use best practices and patterns of design applied to immersive environments and XR applications.
Explain usability considerations when designing for immersive experiences.
Transition your design thinking ideas to a virtual reality medium by following the framework of an expert XR designer who already established themselves in the immersive field.
Use the XR design tools and techniques when designing for VR.
Design an XR portfolio piece to use as a supporting asset in your XR design career.
Requirements
Apart from passion and desire to learn, you’ll need to hit basic technical requirements to take the most out of the course.
PC or Mac
macOS: Must be running 10.12 (macOS Sierra), or later.
Windows: Must be running Windows 8 or later in a 64-bit environment.e
Minimum: 3 GHz (2 cores/4 threads), 8 GB RAM, 8 Mb/s network bandwidth
Figma (download here) Brainstorming applications (download Miro or FigJam) An Oculus Quest or Quest 2 is recommended if you want to get the most out of the course, but not mandatory ShapesXR account and ShapesXR VR Prototyping application (download here) Pen & paper and basic craft supplies or Sketching app for “bodystorming” and storyboarding
Commit to the Full Package
There’s a logical explanation why we created the UX Design Fundamentals for XR after completing several cohorts of Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR course.
The Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR is a live cohort-based course where you’d ideally get deeper into the weeds of designing for XR and attain practical knowledge as well as start building your portfolio.
To get you faster to obtain the experience and tangible skill, we want to spend less time on building fundamentals first. Some designers already know how the design process works, they just need to apply it to the XR field, while others who are passionate about XR design but don’t have the background might spend more time learning the basics of the design thinking and adjusting it to the immersive technologies.
That’s why the best combination for every XR design student is to take both on-demand UX Design Fundamentals for XR and Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR course.
The former will give you a solid background while the latter will drill you and challenge you to come up with your own solutions and projects.
We went ahead and included the XR Design Fundamentals into the Plus Package option of the Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR course which means you’ll have free access to the on-demand course along with 10 1-on-1 private sessions with a design professional.
The main architect of the course, Aleatha Singleton said herself: “This course should almost be a requirement before taking the Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR course. I strongly suggest anyone to consider taking it before enrolling into our live 10-week Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR cohort.”
“When I was starting out, I wished I had access to educational content like this.” — Aleatha Singleton
Same Treatment and Benefits
Just like with the majority of Circuit Stream courses, you will have accountability with the final quiz and opportunity to earn a certification.
By taking this course you will be an official student of Circuit Stream and thus have access to a private discord community of XR 800+ developers and designers. The community is moderated by student success members and student ambassadors.
The community has regular office hours, special events (demo days, pitch days, coffee hours and plenty more) with 24/7 access to passionate peers who live and breathe XR development and/or design.
How to Apply
The way to access this course is simple.
Head over to the XR Design Fundamentals website page and buy the on-demand course for immediate access.
If you’re interested in taking the course along with the Interaction Design and Prototyping for XR cohort-based course, choose a Plus Package when you apply for it here.
If you’re not sure about it yet, please get in touch with our Admissions team, and book a call with them, so you find the best fit for your needs.
