Meta Quest:
Direct Hand Interaction.
Role: Design Director
Responsibilities: interaction system design direction; team support, planning and goal-setting; development, distribution, and adoption of system mechanics; creation and maintenance of system documentation and implementation guides.
For Meta Quest's v50 software release, we rolled out a new interaction modality called Direct Touch. To achieve this, we reworked the Quest user interface and interaction system to allow users to interact directly with buttons, panels, keyboards and objects. We later introduced hand-based locomotion in v74. These additions represented a leap forward in industry-standards and a major improvement to Meta’s hand-tracking, offering a more intuitive and engaging way to interact.
As Design Director of Input and Interaction at Meta (Reality Labs), my team of senior designers and prototypers developed the design and interaction systems that enabled direct hand-tracking interactions on the Meta Quest.
Press: The Verge | Meta Newsroom | UploadVR | Pocket-lint
Utilizing hand-tracking or controllers, Direct Touch capability on Meta Quest VR headsets allows users to directly tap and scroll on interface panels, use keyboards and touch virtual objects with their hands via gesture-based controls (rather than raycast). Users can swipe through content like the apps in their Quest library, grab or move panels, or tap on user interface elements like buttons and icons——all as they would with a smartphone or tablet.
Direct Touch visualization featured on the official Meta blog
Internal Implementation Guide: Hand Interactions
Internal Implementation Guide: Multi Modal Interaction Guidelines
Direct Touch promotional image for the Meta Newsroom press release
Internal Design Documentation: “Hand Book” Hand Interaction Guide
Zuck’s Instagram post announcing Direct Touch