Mixed reality system for evaluating designability and operability of information appliances

In the product development process, designability and operability are evaluated using physical mock-ups which require high costs and a long time to build. In this paper, virtual mock-ups (3D digital models) are used instead of physical mock-ups to solve these problems of cost and time. Given that designers want to touch and operate the designed product in the evaluation process, to cover the disadvantage of virtual mock-ups which do not allow this, this paper proposes a system for evaluating designability and operability of products under development using mixed reality technology. With the proposed method, a physical mock-up covered with a designed virtual mock-up can be touched and operated to evaluate the design being developed in the mixed space of virtual and real ones from the viewpoint of designability and operability.