Why and how experiences are becoming more immersive
Why do we go to movie theatres? Why do we love riding roller coasters in amusement parks? Why do we enjoy going on safari trips? Why do we attend festivals? But most of all, why do we enjoy participating in all these activities instead of simply looking at pictures of or reading about them? Many of us love doing these kinds of activities because they are immersive experiences that appeal to our human sensors. Immersive experiences allow you to lose yourself in them, to be completely taken away by them because of how they are presented to you. The experience provides input to several of your senses in a way that makes you forget about the actual space you are in. Just think back to the last time you were at a movie theatre, completely engrossed in the sounds and sights for a few hours, forgetting the fact that you were seated in a dark room with rows of strangers.
As more technology becomes mainstream and widely available, we can plunge ourselves into an increasing number of immersive experiences. These technologies provide us with methods to make more experiences immersive, which wasn’t possible before. The best and most applicable examples of such technology is probably Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). VR supersedes your surroundings, visually shutting you off from reality and taking you to a parallel virtual world. You can interact with these virtual worlds through controllers and likely won’t notice the difference between real and virtual worlds after a while as long as you don’t bump into one of the physical objects in your reality. On the other hand, VR’s sister technology AR adds layers to actual experience, projecting information on top of reality to give it a completely different dimension. A few familiar examples of AR might include Nintendo’s Pokémon Go App and Instagram filters.
But the effects of VR and AR on visual senses aren’t the only ways to create immersive experiences. Audio is another big method. Until recently, you would’ve needed to buy expensive equipment to create a home cinema environment. Now all you need to do is pull out your smartphone equipped with Dolby Atmos technology and you can experience the full extent and adrenaline of a WO II battlefield while commuting. Furthermore, if you use earbuds or headphones that support spatial audio, watching a movie during a red-eye flight will be completely different (once we can actually travel by air again).
Bringing other senses into the mix can make experiences even more exotic. The use of AR layers and custom perfumes can provide you with an out-of-this-world experience. The combination of affecting both your visual and olfactory senses will make experiences more consuming and engrossing. It will make you feel like Alice in Wonderland. All these technologies could even be combined with tactile feedback, light and colour experiences. The possibilities and combinations are limitless.
Why does this matter? Because appropriately utilising these technologies can offer better and more meaningful interactions with and for your customers. However, applying these technologies to products and experiences simply because you can will not necessarily enhance them. In fact, applying technology just because it’s readily available may only succeed in making things complex and disorienting. It’s important to figure out what technologies will successfully make particular products or experiences more immersive and engaging.
Some fields where we think these may prove an added value:
● Remote shopping experiences can be more fun and offer better advice through a combination of virtual and augmented reality. An example is the IKEA Place App, which enabled shoppers to select anything from the store’s catalogue and view how it would look to scale anywhere in their home. This became a helpful tool for shoppers who struggled with whether items would fit in a tight space or match the motif of a room.
● Museums and zoos can offer digital experiences.
● Schools can offer better remote learning experiences.
● Accessibility can be enhanced by using tactile, spatial and sensory feedback.
● Car experiences can be safer by using augmented reality, in-car audio and tactile systems.
How to go about creating them? There are several things to keep in mind as you experiment with creating immersive experiences. First of all, immersive experiences can be difficult to get right from the get-go so don’t shy away from some trial and error. Secondly, building these experiences are highly personal and may not appeal to everyone. Thirdly, although the technologies exist, they aren’t always cheap. Our advice is to start with prototyping and a limited number of technologies you’d like to focus on. Then you can build on your prototype based on the feedback it receives. A word of caution: using technologies to influence the human senses can be dangerous or may cause severe side effects. So don’t hesitate to seek proper advice in due time.
