05, Immersive education
OrganisationVirgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Making space travel understandable before you experience it
An interactive education experience using guided explanation, visual storytelling and immersive interaction to teach Virgin Galactic's passenger journey, spacecraft environment and equipment, before anyone leaves the ground.
Product design · Immersive education experience · Simulated AR and VR
Project brief
About
A mobile-first education experience: a passenger explores the spacecraft, the journey and the equipment through guided content, with simulated AR and VR moments used to explain unfamiliar physical experience. VR integration and implementation was taken forward in collaboration with renowned London-based strategic design and innovation agency Seymour Powell.
Problem
Spaceflight is unfamiliar by definition. Marketing imagery can excite without explaining, and immersive interaction can exclude anyone who cannot or does not want to use a camera or headset.
Objective
Help people understand preparation, the spacecraft, the equipment and the flight phases before they experience them. Build the mental model of the journey first, then let interaction explain individual objects, with a 2D or text equivalent available alongside the immersive sequences shown.
How the interfaces support the task
Mobile learning companion: Introduce the passenger journey, preparation, spacecraft and equipment, then explain unfamiliar details through guided exploration.
Immersive and equivalent views: AR/VR sequences illustrate physical interactions, while the demonstrated 2D and text routes offer another way through the learning material.
Wider responsive studies: Give the same mobile-first learning sequence more room. They do not establish a separate desktop product.
Scope, work needed
- Journey overview covering preparation, climb, floating and return
- Spacecraft feature exploration and equipment categories
- Progressive disclosure of an illustrative suit and glove model
- Simulated AR scanning with a recovery path and 2D alternative
- Text rehearsal preserving the sequence without immersive movement
- 393 × 852 primary mobile, with 320, 430 and 834 studies
Personas
Explorer
TaskUnderstand what the passenger journey involves and how the spacecraft works.
Design responseThe journey and spacecraft screens explain the sequence in plain steps before any detail is asked for.
Preparing astronaut
TaskLearn the equipment and the flight sequence ahead of the experience.
Design responseGear, suit layers and phase screens teach one thing at a time, with the current step always visible.
Mission circle
TaskFollow a shared journey alongside someone taking part.
Design responseRecovery, memories and text alternatives make the same content followable without the immersive view.
Design personas · Portrait · Tony Zohari / Pexels; Portrait · Skildring by Andreas Ellegaard / Pexels; Portrait · nappy / Pexels.
Our contribution
The journey and learning structure, moving from an overview of the whole flight to preparation, the spacecraft, the equipment and the individual phases.
Mobile interactions and progressive equipment explanations, including the annotated suit and glove sequences.
Immersive interaction designs with simulated AR and VR moments, and a 2D or text alternative available alongside the immersive sequences shown.
We developed the design. VR integration and implementation was taken forward in collaboration with renowned London-based strategic design and innovation agency Seymour Powell.
Design narrative
01Build a mental model before detailed interaction
The journey overview establishes preparation, climb, floating and return, so a passenger knows the shape of the flight before any single moment is explained.
Preparation modules then organise the topics someone needs to understand before exploring individual objects.
Journey overview, the whole experience established before the detail.
Preparation, guided modules build the mental model before immersion.
Sample progress is illustrative; simulated VR rehearsal, not implemented VR.
02Move from equipment categories to contextual detail
The gear overview offers named entry points into the equipment. Suit layers disclose an illustrative clothing model progressively rather than presenting a dense technical manual.
Each layer earns its explanation at the moment it becomes relevant, which keeps unfamiliar equipment approachable.
Equipment overview, named categories open into progressive detail.
Illustrative equipment preview; specifications require verification.
Suit layers, a progressive model replaces a dense technical manual.
Illustrative layer model; construction and materials require verification.
03Put the explanation beside the interaction
The annotated glove perspective places concepts next to the relevant part of the hand, pinch, open hand, thumb control, with a sequence step always visible.
Alongside spacecraft feature exploration, this shows how a physical object becomes understandable interactive content.
Glove view, explanations placed beside the interaction.
VR sequence is simulated; equipment detail is illustrative.
Spacecraft overview, named entry points into the vehicle.
Illustrative spacecraft visualisation; AR is simulated within the prototype.
04Make the immersive step an invitation
The suit experience opens with a single, opt-in beginning, experience space from the inside, with the text guide offered beside it, so immersion is a choice rather than a gate.
The VR moments in the prototype are simulated. VR integration and implementation was taken forward in collaboration with renowned London-based strategic design and innovation agency Seymour Powell.
Step into the suit, immersion offered as a choice beside a text guide.
VR is simulated within the prototype; not implemented VR or operational guidance.
05Keep each flight phase part of a connected journey
The phase spine locates the passenger within the sequence. Mated climb, release, boost, weightlessness, apogee, re-entry and landing each mark progress on the same timeline.
Altitude, speed, duration and progress are labelled as examples at every step, so the drama of the moment never reads as live flight data.
Mated climb, the phase spine locates the passenger.
Simulated flight; altitude, speed and timeline are illustrative, not live data.
Weightlessness, movement concepts previewed while crew guidance remains authoritative.
Example duration; simulated experience preview, not crew instruction.
Apogee, reflection and memory capture at the top of the arc.
Example altitude and timeline; not live flight data.
Re-entry and landing, the journey closes and hands over to memories.
Not live flight data; crew remains the source of guidance.
06Keep learning available without immersion
Scanning recovery offers a 2D alternative when no surface is found. Text rehearsal preserves the complete sequence, helmet, hands, torso, boots and full body, without immersive movement.
Equivalent access is designed into the sequence rather than added beside it, providing a route through the material without a camera or headset.
AR recovery, a failed scan becomes a route rather than a dead end.
AR is simulated. A designed alternative route; WCAG conformance has not been established by the evidence presented here.
Text rehearsal, the full sequence preserved in words at the reader’s pace.
A designed alternative route; WCAG conformance has not been established by the evidence presented here.
07What was delivered
A mobile education journey covering the passenger sequence, preparation modules, spacecraft features and equipment, with progressive explanation of the suit, layers and glove interactions.
Flight-phase screens from mated climb to landing, simulated AR and VR sequences with their 2D and text equivalents, and an optional enquiry route, composed at 393 × 852 with 320, 430 and 834 studies. VR integration and implementation was taken forward in collaboration with renowned London-based strategic design and innovation agency Seymour Powell.
08Close with an optional next step
The enquiry is deliberately secondary: learn about the experience, prepare questions or speak with the team, with commitment kept separate from understanding.
No commercial flow, pricing or booking is part of the design.
Enquiry, a secondary next step kept separate from understanding.
No commercial flow, pricing or booking is designed or implied.
Systems & responsive
Design system
The product draws on shared library instances rather than a local variable collection, so typography, colour and component behaviour stay consistent with the shared project library while the education experience adds its own patterns for phases, annotations and immersive steps.
Responsive behaviour
393 × 852 mobile is primary, with compact 320, wide 430 and 834 tablet studies. The design is mobile-first throughout: the phase spine, annotated interactions and immersive steps are composed for a phone, and wider studies give the same sequence more room rather than a different product.
Prototype
Prototype walkthrough (coming soon)
A recorded walkthrough of the education journey and recovery paths will be added here.
The prototype covers the journey, equipment, flight phases, AR retry and 2D destinations, text rehearsal completion and the enquiry confirmation. Immersive behaviour is simulated within the prototype.
Explore prototype routes
Gallery
32 images
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Welcome, three clear routes into the passenger education journey.
Project notes
A short set of notes on the material shown in the screens.
- Pictured equipment and flight figures are illustrative prototype content, not operational guidance.
- The AR and VR moments shown are simulated within the prototype. VR integration and implementation was taken forward in collaboration with renowned London-based strategic design and innovation agency Seymour Powell.
Takeaway & evaluation
Immersive education lands when the learning sequence stands on its own in 2D and text, so the immersive layer deepens understanding rather than gating it.
Outcome metrics not available.
What to measure
Proposed evaluation, not conducted research.
- After the preparation sequence, can someone describe the flight phases and the equipment they will use, in the right order?
- Can someone who skips the immersive steps find the equivalent 2D and text content and complete the same journey?