Beth Jessup
Immersive Environment
How can we create an informal online environment for spontaneous non-meeting conversations?
The Immersive Environment is a feature created for Zoom that combines virtual backgrounds and ambient audio to create a virtual environment. While they provide an informal video calling environment, immersive environments also enable participants to experience the same things and feel as though they are occupying the same space. These environments are not designed to replace in-person meetings, but to give users a better alternative experience to current video calls. Zoom users can make their own custom Immersive Environments using their own media or download high quality files from Zoom Media Library. Reinvigorate your video calls, engage informally with coworkers, and inspire others.
Insight
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have allowed their employees work remotely from home. As a result, many of them have realized that they can trust their employees to work remotely without being monitored.
In the future, hybrid or fully-remote work positions will be introduced in certain work sectors. The search for talent will not be restricted by the individual’s proximity to the office. Companies could hire anyone from within the country. This means that coworkers may rarely, if ever, meet each other in-person.
My goal is to help remote workers connect and build trust and relationships that will lead to strong collaboration.
Idea
The Immersive Environment feature I designed for Zoom combines ambient audio and visuals to help participants feel that they are occupying the same space. Participants are able to create their own custom Immersive Environments by mixing and matching their own audio and images. These environments can then be shared with participants on the call, creating a shared experience of this virtual space and increasing peoples' feeling of being together.
This design strives to support social interactions on video calls for coworkers and other individuals who are separated and unable to meet in-person. These experiences are not designed to replace in-person meetings.
Impact
Many people have multiple video calls a day and are feeling physically and mentally drained by them. Immersive Environments help diminish “Zoom fatigue” that people experience by providing users with fun informal spaces and inspirational online content. This design provides people with inspirational online engagement as they can create and share their custom Immersive Environments with others. Finally, these environments also help alleviate the awkwardness of Zoom video calls by providing ambient audio that takes the burden of filling silences off of participants.
Biography
Beth Jessup is a fourth year student at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada, studying Industrial Design. She enjoys creating beautiful illustrations that support her research and insights. Her two favourite projects were Switchware and the Recycling Card Game. One of her favourite parts of design is its ability to bridge industry gaps and create solutions to complex problems that benefit multiple stakeholders, especially users. Beth is interested in working in service design or UX/UI design, with the goal of creating designs that enable people to reach their full potential.