For the B2B social VR platform CONVRS by Ocean Visioneering I contributed with design concepts in addition to being the servant leader of the dev team as the Scrum Master. This concept was by far my favorite even if none of the ideas made it into the final design.
In exploring ideas for an expo lobby that showcased the exhibitors in a way where you could see them all, a spherical spiral dotted with orbs displaying the content of the stand in the form a 360 pano was explored.
The idea was for a design to allow for casual meetings between visitors while strolling the lobby spiral while at the same time provide an unprecedented view of all the exhibitors at all times. At traditional expos the only way to be visible from “everywhere” is to have the largest, and tallest structure.
In the end the design was made much simpler, where the lobby would serve more as a meeting and gathering place for talks, and where even the stand portals seen here would go away in favor of a menu based system for navigation.
The final lobby was the result of a collaborative design effort led by Creative Director and design lead Marco Mintchev, UE4 Environment Artist Jennipher Karlsson, lead XR Developer Atanas Stanulov and to a smaller extent yours truly.
There is no weather nor gravity in VR, but having a few elements that are recognizable helps with guiding users through spaces and increases comfort. Research from Standford University show that large, outdoor like virtual spaces make users exhibit greater non-verbal synchrony and increases in many positive measures such as group cohesion, pleasure, arousal, presence, and enjoyment.