Talk / Tools of change
Immersive User Experience Toolbox
Andrea Gaggioli & Alessandro Sala
How user experience can be used in virtual reality to bridge the gap between digital and physical and
its impact on human behaviour
User testing is a fundamental part of user experience and product design work. The current state of the art relies on creating a prototype, design a testing protocol, select users, gather them on specific days and then let them try to accomplish tasks. But this can create lot of noise between the useful, reliable, diverse and actionable testing analytics and all the possible characteristics that made testing session (money, people, location)
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore’s Gaggioli and Studio Volpi’s Interaction Design Team have joined forces to create the User Experience Toolbox, which consists in a set of software functionalities, protocols and outputs with the objective of measuring the interaction with products and interfaces in VR throught unopinionable values: time, movements and velocity.
Using VR as medium to perform user tasting was proven to be similar to real life experiences by users, this allows us to push the boundaries of use testing regardless of limitation in space, money and time, having comparable data to better evaluate the experience of interacting with a product.
The User Experience Toolbox, which is the methodology and process developed for this purpose, has already been used in several real world cases, proving itself as an useful and flexible tool to be used by designer and clients early on in the designing process to test and validate ideas.
About the speakers
Andrea Gaggioli
I am professor of psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.
I focus on "Positive Technology", a topic at the intersection of psychology, neuroscience and interactive design, which studies how digital tools can be used to help individuals achieve greater wellbeing. I carried out my PhD in Psychobiology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Milan, where I investigated the experiences of "presence" and "flow" in virtual reality.
Over the last 20 years, I have collaborated in several projects on VR, AR and ambient intelligence applications in mental health and neurorehabilitation.
I have published over 150 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Science and Nature and served as a keynote at EuroVR, Persuasive Technology, Design & Emotion, Supporting Health by Tech conferences and several others. My research has been featured in international media outlets, including The New York Times, Die Zeit, Reuters and Scientific American.
Alessandro Sala
I’m Alessandro Sala, User Experience Designer with a great passion for design, products and technology, especially when combined.
I care and curate every aspect of a project: from research to testing, from information architecture to wireframe design.
Currently I'm leading the Interaction Design Team at Studio Volpi, one of the most innovative product design consultancies in Italy, with the goal of design and develop the most cutting edge products on the market.
I research, design, prototype, deliver and improve customized expericences.