The future of interactive and extended realities (XR) is reshaping how we engage with digital and physical spaces. The real-world metaverse is a parallel reality where digital information is superimposed on and anchored to the real world, expanding beyond traditional augmented and virtual reality. This emerging design space presents new opportunities for immersive storytelling, interactive navigation, and spatial experiences with the potential to redefine learning, guidance, and entertainment.

In this course, you’ll explore interactive storytelling and spatial computing as a design medium—learning how to sketch, prototype, and refine XR-driven experiences that seamlessly blend digital and physical environments.

Prerequisites‍

This course is for curious designers, developers, and creatives eager to experiment with new tools and collaborate in an intensive, hands-on prototyping process. 

Open to all skill levels—no previous knowledge or specific software is required.

How you’ll learn

The real-world metaverse is vast, and this course will focus on navigation and wayfinding as an essential application of immersive and XR design. Students will work in teams to create interactive digital pathways, augmented landmarks, and dynamic storytelling elements that guide users across physical environments.

By experimenting with augmented markers, interactive storytelling, and spatial cues, students will push the boundaries of how people interact with digital overlays in real-world spaces. 

Expect to prototype, test, and refine designs in real-world environments while collaborating on interactive experiences.

What you’ll learn

• Key design principles for interactive and immersive XR experiences
• Tools for sketching and prototyping augmented and mixed reality interactions
• How to use 3D asset libraries and game engines to develop interactive spatial prototypes
• Methods for testing and refining experiences through rapid feedback loops
  

What to bring

• A notebook and a pen

• A laptop