Product Video
Eighties arcade games were the inspiration for our presentation video.
It showcases the important aspects of the magazine and invites the user to dive in.
It showcases the important aspects of the magazine and invites the user to dive in.
Styleguide
There were many reasons for persuing a dark look for the magazine. First, VR glasses are commonly used in dark rooms to avoid light coming in from the sides of the VR sets and possibly breaking the user's immersion. Secondly, dark backdrops would make the images and illustrations we had planned stand out and shine.
Our color palette was kept simple with different shades ranging from white to black. Initially we had planned for a blue accent colour, yet later diverted from that idea when it took away too much attention from the rest.
The fonts we decided to use were Big Shoulders Text, because of it's playful style that fitted our technical subject, and Montserrat which is fitting for small headlines and text blocks.
Since we had quite a lot of interactive elements we needed to keep them simple using a flat design that changed when hovering over it. For example, if the user hovers over an article a small animation will appear of the image zooming in and the text being highlighted.
To explain how every aspect of VR works we decided to use animated illustrations that further added to the playful part of VR. These illustrations are also kept simple with its thin white outlines. If the user interacts with a subject the illustration animates how the technology behind Headtracking or other features works.
The fonts we decided to use were Big Shoulders Text, because of it's playful style that fitted our technical subject, and Montserrat which is fitting for small headlines and text blocks.
Since we had quite a lot of interactive elements we needed to keep them simple using a flat design that changed when hovering over it. For example, if the user hovers over an article a small animation will appear of the image zooming in and the text being highlighted.
To explain how every aspect of VR works we decided to use animated illustrations that further added to the playful part of VR. These illustrations are also kept simple with its thin white outlines. If the user interacts with a subject the illustration animates how the technology behind Headtracking or other features works.
As you will see below we also added an eyecatcher to the top of the pages. If you scroll down this detail will move accordingly and slowly zoom in, giving the effect of diving into a virtual world. The shape you see on the "home" page is very abstract while the shapes of the subject pages are based on geometric shapes.
Screens
In our magazine we put the spotlight on the three topics Consoles, Entertainment and Future, but we wanted to go more in depth during our research. So we created different categories for each topic.
Consoles
In Consoles the user can explore different VR glasses the market currently offers. He can either explore every technical part of the console with a simple mouse-over feature or compare the consoles specs with a different one. Under "How VR Works" the viewer can learn about every aspect that is needed to generate a VR experience through the animated illustrations mentioned before.
Entertainment
The entertainment category is divided into three subjects: Gaming, Sports and Concerts/Events. Here the user sees an article overview with the option to display more articles. For our research we wrote articles about the games "Half-Life: Alyx" and "Star Wars: Squadrons". The design of these articles is more like you would usually see it in a magazine, with large blocks of text decorated with images and a game rating at the bottom. Another article that we decided to focus on was about the use of VR for physical fitness during the Corona lockdown. For this purpose we tested different fitness games and compared them with each other, rating every game.
Future
The topic Future is also divided into three subjects: Therapy, Education and Services.
The article we have composed here is about fear confrontation using VR technology and how it can benefit people suffering from these issues.
The article we have composed here is about fear confrontation using VR technology and how it can benefit people suffering from these issues.
Home
"Home" simply displays a preview of each of these topics. At the top of the page the user will see the latest news and most popular articles followed by the topics divided by big banner images. The interactive elements the user sees here will slightly differ from what is seen on the other pages.
Below you can see an example of different devices THE CAVE can be viewed on:
Devices
TEAM MEMBERS
Yannick Hoffmeister / Thang Nguyen / Lucie Wittmer
