Jaunt XR
Designing the interaction language for a new medium
Overview
Jaunt was a Fast Company “Most Innovative Company” with over $100M in funding. I led the design team building its first native in-headset VR player, letting people watch 360 video inside VR for the first time.
Most Innovative CompaniesProblem
Jaunt was filming some of the most ambitious 360 video in the world, but had no native way to watch it inside a headset. There was no app, and no established patterns for how one should work.
Solution
A native VR player built around gaze-based controls, set inside designed environments that frame the world around the viewer without competing with the content.
The Constraint
No conventions. No hands. No positional tracking.
First-generation 3DOF headsets, and no existing UI patterns for this kind of interaction. Every decision had to be invented from first principles.
Environment Development
From first sketch to rendered world. “Pillars” framed the floating UI, giving rich environments and interface a natural breakpoint.
Brand as a Place
The pillars became the architecture.
In VR, the environment is the brand. The same pillars that framed the interface in the early sketches became the columns of Jaunt’s home space, holding the UI steady while the world opens up around it. Every view lands on content, and the space itself says Jaunt.
One Player, Every Screen
The same interaction language, adapted from a desktop browser to 6DOF headsets.
No headset
Instant access, no hardware
Desktop web player
iOS app
Android app
Mobile VR · 3DOF
Look around, gaze to control
Google Cardboard
Samsung Gear VR
Google Daydream
Headsets · 6DOF
Move through the scene
Oculus Rift
HTC Vive
PlayStation VR
Filling the Library
I designed the player, then filled it.
I built and led Jaunt’s third-party creator program, sourcing and licensing 100+ new pieces of content from outside creators, and developed a content strategy that brought outside audiences into the app.
100+
pieces of content sourced and licensed
100%
library growth in three months
9+
platforms, from desktop browser to 6DOF headsets
Speaking
Represented Jaunt on stage at VR industry events including VRX, VFI, SVVR, and AFI Fest, then distilled the work into a capstone talk at SXSW in 2018.
Outcome
Shipped the foundational VR player that the team extended to 6DOF headsets during my time there, and doubled the library it played in three months.
