Metamodality
me·ta·mod·al
adjective
- characterized by several different modes of activity or occurrence, inclusive of the metaverse
As we expand the surfaces that we design for to be inclusive of instances within the metaverse or metaverses, we can carry forward our previous learnings from the move to responsive design and multimodality. By building for metamodality, we can maintain more consistency, familiarity, and recognition of established patterns that will enhance learnability and usability.
Multimodal design enables the user a variety of possible modalities of human-computer interaction to help the system understand what the user wants. Interaction modalities can include visuals, gestural input, speech and audio cues, biological signals, touch, tactile aspects, and haptic feedback. Metamodal design carries these principles forward into the metaverse, but is differentiated from multimodal design by modalities existing within modalities. Metamodal design responds to both the user’s contexts, as they may be immersed to various degrees in the metaverse, and to the other potentially active modalities. With a greater system awareness of the user’s engagement levels with modalities, devices, realities, spatial overlays, virtual objects, and how virtual elements may interact with each other, previously impossible interaction paradigms can be engaged.
Metamodal design can include:
- Passthrough interactions with companion devices and wearables
- Smart home devices and appliances
- Head locked widget-style micro visualizations that can be expanded, entered, or otherwise interacted with
- Conditional object/spatial remapping
