Designing in virtual environments: The integration of virtual reality tools into industrial design research and education

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has become an increasingly common tool in consumer and professional settings. While there are many documented applications of industrial designers using VR in large corporations, there is limited literature detailing applications in studio-based education. This paper shares learnings from three case-studies across undergraduate, postgraduate, and design research projects. These projects share some of the possibilities and limitations of VR tools for future industrial design practitioners. The application of these tools spans across the product development process, from virtual 3D sketching and CAD modelling, visualization, usability testing to co-design workshops with members of the public. VR has moved beyond just a tool for visualization and decision making, and can now play an active role in all stages of the design process. These projects detail the possibilities for VR in industrial design and illuminate some of the challenges in teaching these emerging technologies and tools to design students.

Embedding Immersive Technologies Into Product Design Education: Students' Awareness of Virtual Reality as a Tool to Support the Development of Design Solutions

“…Prior studies established the great potential that VR and related technologies have in industrial/product design education [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. An experimental study that examined three case studies including undergraduates, postgraduates, and design research concluded that VR had progressed beyond being a tool for visualisation and decision-making and might be ready to play a critical role in all phases of the design process [6]. In the field of industrial design education, several studies examined the effectiveness of using VR to aid design learning [7], [1], another study focused on the usefulness and ease of use of VR [2].…”

“…In contrast, Hamurcu et al (2020), analysed the efforts of using VR in industrial design in professional and educational contexts by focusing on VR as a tool to represent and communicate design ideas [4]. Roberts et al (2020) investigated using VR to aid in the design process across various stages from early conception through usability testing [6]. Jimeno et al (2016) narrowed the focus to using VR sketch drawing software in the design process [3].…”