At some point in your career as a web designer or developer, you will want to take things to the next level, and this is when you should become proficient in the field of user experience.
Each time you design a navigation bar or create scalable vector graphics for a project, you are in fact managing UX, but once you specialize in this field, you will get into projects such as app design, e-commerce workflows, user interfaces for games, and online service fulfillment.
UX design moves faster than UI and web development because it constantly aims to marry technology with human behavior. You have probably noticed how we are gradually easing into augmented reality and virtual reality UX, but we need to bridge the present with the future, and this is when three-dimensional web design comes in.
What Is 3D Web Design?
In essence, 3D web design aims to create and render elements that appear to have true depth, which is accomplished to make UX more engaging and interactive. In the world of digital multimedia design, the use of 3D graphics, sounds, and even worlds dates back to video game design in the 1980s.
The use of 3D elements in web design emerged just a few years following the birth of the World Wide Web in the 1990s; back then, the Virtual Reality Markup Language (VRML) standard was introduced in order to start mapping the future of website interaction.
Not surprisingly, many of the earliest VRML efforts were oriented towards video gaming, architecture, and 3D object modeling that could be displayed right on the browser.
VRML was eventually superseded by the X3D standard of 3D website design, and it has evolved into a coding platform that plays nice with XML, JSON, WebGL, and other modern staples of web development.
How Does 3D Web Design Work?
Just like a standard web project, a 3D website begins with ideas that are followed by plans, sketches, wireframing, mock-ups, coding, and testing. Similar to HTML5, XML, and CSS, you could use a simple text editor to code X3D from scratch, but you really do not want to take such a rudimentary approach.
Also Read: Solid Ways To Add Depth To Your Web Designs
Your best bet is to use established platforms such as Adobe XD and create prototypes that include transformation scenarios of existing elements into 3D models. You can still use paper and collaborative whiteboards in the earliest stages of the project, but when you want to present a prototype of how 3D UI and UX will shape the website, Adobe XD is the way to go.
How Do You Get Started With 3D Web Design?
Assuming that you have some experience in web design and development, you may want to head over to the Adobe XD Ideas content hub for inspiration and to see how your UX design peers are completing projects.
You can also search for Campo Alle Comete, an Italian winery that offers a gorgeous, magical, and whimsical 3D world to showcase its fine wines. Notice how this website is fully responsive, which means that the UX can be easily enjoyed from a smartphone.
With the advent of new technologies such as the Oculus Rift and Microsoft Mesh headsets, you do not want to miss out on the next wave of 3D UX web design for the web, which is clearly the future of web interaction. Do not delay your entry into 3D web design; you can be sure your peers are sharpening their skills to maintain their competitive edge.
