Immersion
Tactile effects commercialization

Connecting immersive technology to UX-driven market opportunities

Immersion develops and licenses haptic feedback technology — an amazing innovation that brings devices to life with physical sensations. The difference between a device enabled with Immersion technology and one without is like a silent black and white movie compared to modern virtual reality.

My relationship with Immersion started while a partner at Daylight. The images above are from one of the first projects we did with them. This type of technology commercialization work is quite different from typical product design projects, which tend to start with more of a blank page and a search for unmet user needs. The starting point for a company like Immersion involves understanding what the technology can do, and then finding the sweet spots where those possibilities intersect with user needs. This requires an additional layer of thoughtfulness and creativity. The fact that Immersion has some amazing UX thought leaders on staff doesn’t hurt either.

My collaboration with Immersion has resulted in a number of patents — but more importantly, the ideas we’ve come up with have enriched the interactions of literally hundreds of millions of people.

The video below is a nice overview describing how this technology works.