The VR Music Museum : An Exploration in Digital Environments
Type : Virtual Reality Experience
Role : Project Manager, UX Designer, Digital Environment Designer
Tool : Mozilla Hubs and Spokes, Blender, Blueprinting
Virtual Reality is fast approaching as the new plane of interaction. Humans increasingly are opting to explore digital spaces over their real-world counterparts. Industries such as healthcare, engineering, and education are exploring VR and AR applications to simplify and strengthen productivity. We are on the cusp of a new wave of experiences in our day-to-day lives not unlike the advent of the personal computer or smartphone. As a scholar, this new wave of Human-Computer Interactions is of great interest to me, which is why as part of my concentration in experimental digital media I undertook a course in Mixed Reality Design.
The VR Music Museum is an undertaking by myself and a cohort of roughly 25 students to construct a digital exhibition space showcasing the history and lineage of some of our favorite music genres. It was an idea designed by myself and 5 other senior designers and engineers to learn what types of decisions go into the construction of entirely digital spaces. Our tool of choice was Mozilla Hubs and Spokes, a forum and tool for constructing and collaborating on 3D digital spaces. From there we recruited the whole host of designers, engineers, 3D artists, historians, illustrators, etc. that it takes to facilitate the creation of such a massive manifold construction.
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The Problem
Pictured Above : The Lobby and Jazz Club - Room layout in their early phase, as textures, themes, and layout are deec
As the project manager for the team responsible for developing the environments and overall user experience, I parsed out our milestones , set expectations, and assigned roles. We began with designing room layouts, examining how given our medium we could create unique environments for each of the selected genres (Jazz, Rock, Hip Hop, Punk, and Alternative) while keeping a unified lobby and style. Due to constraints in the size of our VR spaces, each of these environments was kept separate from one another, with transitions available via a central lobby and menu. To keep the experience as natural as possible, we kept our UI highly limited and unobtrusive, allowing the interaction to be done much the same as in a real museum, with auditory, visual, and tactile experiences at the forefront of our designs. Each of these spaces and experiences was derived from the aesthetics, history, and practices of each genre, attempting to engage the user in ways museums are typically limited, such as locationally based audio experiences and specific built environments.
The Research
Pictured Above : The Alternative Venue - An example of the different environments and styles afforded by digital spaces
With our work as the foundation for the project, other teams could then fill these spaces with artifacts and history, breathing new depth into the set pieces we had designed. Exhibitions were set in place. Playlists concocted to guide the user. Informatics and images displayed across the walls for each genre to be examined. After a month of work, it all culminated in the final unveiling of our new VR museum. It would act as my cohort's final project for the semester; Representing our deepened knowledge of environmental, informational, and interface design. We had built engaging spaces from concert venues to block parties and jazz clubs. Coupled with our audio design it was a feast for both the eyes and the ears.
Reflecting on the project there are some primary pains and gains I should identify around our experience. While it was an exciting Audio Visual Experience, we still took a reserved approach in making more typical exhibition rooms and halls for presenting direct information. There is much more room for exploration in VR spaces, incorporating animations, and larger-than-life experiences to leverage the unique abilities of VR. What’s more is our waterfall project management style, passing the layers of construction between teams was cause for concern. Where a more agile and extrapolated approach would enable multiple teams to produce results simultaneously, our pipeline required subsequent parts to be created before other pieces could begin work. Where we succeeded however, was in execution, developing something from nothing in such a short timespan, especially with coordinating 25 odd students to operate on a task in concurrence. What's more our work is among many other early forays into the expansive new world of VR/AR design, and as we learn and grow so too does this nascent field.
The Results
Pictured Below : The Rock Garage and Punk Pit - Rooms in the process of being filled by other teams research items and 3D models
