Ruscella Immersive

Immersive Design · Method

How we design.

We design in the round. The participant stands at the centre, and everything we make is arranged around them.

It is how a stage director works: decide what each moment must do to the person inside it, then build only what serves that moment.

The principle

The participant is the protagonist.

Film and television keep the audience outside a frame. An immersive experience has no frame. The participant stands inside the story, looks where they choose and acts. So we design around people, in this order:

  1. People and their goalsWho steps inside, what they need, and what should change for them.
  2. StoryThe role they play, and the moments that deliver the outcome.
  3. ExperienceWhat they see, hear, feel and do, moment by moment.
  4. Technology, lastHeadset, dome, venue or browser, chosen to serve the design.
PEOPLE and their goals STORY the role they play EXPERIENCE what they see, feel and do TECHNOLOGY headset · dome · venue · browser DESIGN BUILD PLAYTEST REFINE
Designed in the round: people at the centre, technology at the edge.
The method

Design, build, playtest, refine.

We work in short loops with real participants in the room as early as possible. Nothing goes into full production until it works in rehearsal.

  1. 01Design

    Meet the people it is for, agree what should change for them, then stage story, space and sightlines around the participant.

  2. 02Build

    Fast, rough versions: blocking, grey-box 3D, test captures. Just enough to step inside.

  3. 03Playtest

    Put it in front of real participants. We watch what they do, not only what they say.

  4. 04Refine

    Cut what does not serve the moment, strengthen what does, and loop again until it is ready to produce.

Every loop is shorter and cheaper than the last, so budget goes to what participants will actually feel.

The taxonomy

A grammar for immersion.

Immersion is what we design. Presence is what the participant feels.

JJ Ruscella and Dr. Mohammad Obeid wrote the taxonomy to make immersion a set of deliberate choices. It describes any experience across ten dimensions, each on a five-level spectrum from basic to complex.

Higher is not automatically better. The right level is the one that best serves the outcome and the participant, which is why technology is only one dimension of ten. We use the taxonomy to set every level on purpose, to evaluate experiences that already exist, and to give clients a shared language for what they are commissioning.

Air University made it the foundation of the U.S. Air Force's Vector program. The interactive version, built with the University of Central Florida, is open to anyone.

J. J. Ruscella and M. F. Obeid, A Taxonomy for Immersive Experience Design. Peer reviewed; 7th International Conference of the Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN), IEEE, 2021.

Design with the taxonomy Read the paper
  1. 01

    Interactivity

    The invitation to act

    How much participants can act within the experience, and whether their actions matter.

    1. Passive
    2. Interactive
    3. Problem solving
    4. Physicalized
    5. Interpersonal
  2. 02

    Embodiment

    Being in the story, for real

    How physically, spatially and socially present participants feel in the storyworld.

    1. Detached
    2. Watcher
    3. First-person POV
    4. Movement
    5. Human-to-human
  3. 03

    Co-Participation

    The power of the many

    How many people share or influence the experience, and how that is structured.

    1. Single player
    2. One-on-one
    3. Group
    4. Massively multiplayer
    5. Secondary perspective
  4. 04

    Story

    The architecture of meaning

    How narrative gives the experience meaning, from no story to one that adapts around the participant.

    1. No story
    2. Setting
    3. Pre-created story
    4. Choose your own
    5. Interactive story
  5. 05

    Dynamics

    The engine of consequence

    How the world responds to participants' actions, and what those actions can change.

    1. Pre-determined
    2. Choice
    3. Free will
    4. Convo-reality
    5. Adjustable POV
  6. 06

    Motivation

    The rules of engagement

    Whether and how goals, feedback and rewards drive engagement.

    1. Ungamified
    2. Instruction
    3. External process
    4. Reinforcement
    5. Reward system
  7. 07

    Immersive Technology

    The amplifier, not the art

    The delivery platform, from no technology at all to fully mixed physical and digital systems.

    1. In real life
    2. Flat media (2D)
    3. AR
    4. VR
    5. XR
  8. 08

    Meta-Control

    The power to shape the world

    Whether participants can shape the world and its rules, not just act inside them.

    1. None
    2. Journey
    3. Character
    4. World builder
    5. World master
  9. 09

    Learning

    The architecture of understanding

    How knowledge is delivered and absorbed within the experience.

    1. Elemental
    2. Explicit
    3. Implicit
    4. Recall
    5. Synthesis
  10. 10

    Data

    The ghost in the machine

    What the experience knows about participants: identity, tracking and personalization.

    1. Anonymous
    2. Identity
    3. In-session
    4. Personalization
    5. Biometrics
Designed this way

U.S. Air Force, Air University. The taxonomy, now how Air Force commanders learn to evaluate and design immersive experiences.

RIVERE Ecological Center. Immersive spaces planned with the architects around the visitor, and a roadmap for $6 million in immersive technology.

Voices of Freedom. An immersive history series that places visitors in the rooms where freedom was argued.

See the work

Start with the person who steps inside.

Tell us who the experience is for and what should change for them. We will design the rest around them.

Let’s design an experience