Exploring Design-Relevant Insights from Existing Heuristic Studies for Virtual Object Design in Virtual Reality

Abstract

This study presents a systematic review of heuristic evaluation methods applied in virtual reality (VR) environments, with a specific focus on their potential contributions to the design of three-dimensional virtual objects. While heuristic evaluation is widely used in interface and interaction design, its relevance to object-level design decisions in immersive environments remains limited. Existing heuristic sets do not sufficiently address the spatial, embodied, and manipulation-oriented characteristics of virtual objects. The review examines 3o studies published over the past decade, with particular attention to those that propose, adapt, or employ heuristic-related approaches in VR contexts. Rather than treating existing heuristic sets as fixed evaluation frameworks, the analysis focuses on interpreting the reported findings and design considerations of these studies to derive design-relevant heuristic principles for virtual object design. Through a strengthened and design-oriented literature review, recurring patterns, assumptions, and limitations related to object-centered interaction and evaluation are identified.The findings reveal that although many studies implicitly address aspects relevant to virtual object design—such as spatial positioning, interaction naturalness, feedback, and affordances—these elements are often fragmented and not articulated explicitly at the object level. By synthesizing these dispersed insights, the study highlights opportunities and gaps in leveraging heuristic-based research as a source of design guidance for three-dimensional virtual objects in immersive environments.This work contributes to advancing usability and interaction design practices in immersive technologies by clarifying how existing heuristic-focused studies can inform virtual object design and by establishing a conceptual foundation for future object-centered, human-centered heuristic frameworks.

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Heuristic Evaluation, Virtual Object Design, Human-centered Design, Usability

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007651