Horizon Worlds
Product Design Prototyper
2019-2021
Horizon worlds is Meta's Social VR app - a "metaverse" where users from around the world can play games and socialize as virtual avatars. In my time there as a Product Design Prototyper I wore many hats on the team. My work ranged from designing new features, to prototyping closely with user researchers, to doing full on production engineering work.
I started out on the Integrity team, then moved on to improving the new user experience, and finally helped develop the UI system. I primarily worked in Unity, Figma, and Maya.
Personal Boundary Safety System
I served as the co-designer, prototyper, and ultimately when we were short engineers, I stepped up to be the engineer that published the Personal Boundary Integrity feature to Horizon. The personal boundary keeps users a safe distance away from one another, and helps prevent trolling and harassment. When designing this feature we ran into various challenges including how the personal boundary interacts with VR locomotion, how the system works in crowds, and how the system would impact social dynamics. The feature that I created was unique in that it used a "squeeze" mechanic that allowed for flexibility in crowds and intimate social settings, while also accommodating for sliding and teleport locomotion. The team was able to secure a design patent for our research into this space.
New User Experience
I helped design and prototype the original new user experience in Horizon, and ultimately assisted with the engineering of it when we were short-staffed on engineers. The prototype tutorials that I explored focused on narrative and immersion, and made learning feel intuitive and natural.
Spatial UI System
I co-designed the Spatial UI system used in Horizon, which defines how UI works within a multi-user spatial environment. I was especially concerned with how much of the user's screen real estate we could use, what items to give priority to, and how privacy worked with UI in a multiplayer setting.
