14. Lesson Review

In this lesson we learned…

How does our intended audience impact our documentation?

Our intended audience changes the information in our documentation and how we present it. If our documentation is used to show potential employers that you have a solid design and development process backed by user research, our documentation will have different goals. Specifically, we’d want to show off our ability to clearly communicate our process, anything we’ve learned from user testing, and how we create a thoughtfully designed VR project.

When creating anything to show your work to the world, you should always consider the audience’s goals for viewing your work. Consider two people. One is running a business and they want to hire a VR developer. The other is a gamer who wants to do research on some cool games they can play. Each person would have different goals viewing your work. The first individual might be looking for information about how you create a VR experience. The second would be interested in learning more about the finished product, the VR experience you created.

What does a basic outline for a VR project documentation contain?

Typically, we’d want to add the following sections.

  • Introduction
  • Outcomes
  • Story of the process
  • User testing outcomes
  • Iterations made
  • Breakdown of final piece
  • Conclusion

What kinds of media should be included in documentation?

A few great things to add to your documentation include:

  • Pictures from user tests
  • Screenshots from the experience
  • Quotes from user testers
  • Video footage of user tests
  • Mixed reality footage of someone in the experience

Tip: When taking pictures and videos, it’s always better to take more than you think you’ll need. It’s better to have a lot of options to choose from, and the more pictures, screenshots and videos you take, the better you’ll be able to identify great action shots to really highlight your VR experience.

Additional Tips for Writing Documentation

  • Make your content easy to skim. Use headings and subheadings to break up the content. This helps readers scroll through your documentation to find the sections they’re most interested in.
  • Include images, videos, and other media. Adding media is a great way to break up a huge wall of text. It also helps to have these visual aids as a reference when you’re writing. You can say something like, “In the image above I.. [insert something awesome that you are showing off in the image]”.
  • Proofread. Typos and structure errors are a sure way to undermine your credibility. There are many ways of proofreading.
    • Take a break. Write your draft and then wait 48 hours before reading it again to proofread it. This lets you come back to the project with fresh eyes.
    • Read your writing aloud to yourself. Reading aloud requires us to slow down our reading speed, so we’re more likely to pick up on errors in our writing. If something doesn’t sound natural, it probably needs to be reworked.
    • Get a second opinion. Have a friend or family member proofread your work.