Shaping AR for Industry: A Review and Update of Design Guidelines

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) is an essential technology that enables many Industry 4.0 and 5.0 concepts. It offers interactive instructions, reduces downtime, and enhances design visualization. However, designing AR systems for industrial settings presents challenges including technical limitations, new user interactions, and context sensitivity. If not carefully managed, these challenges can lead to user frustration or safety risks. To address these challenges, AR systems must be evaluated with a focus on usability. General usability heuristics are a useful starting point, but they fall short in AR contexts, where interactions, such as manipulating virtual objects, differ from those in traditional interfaces. Applying these guidelines in the industry requires the following safety standards: precision and efficiency. Guidelines are typically generated based on empirical data or as extensions of widely used principles. There is no consensus on which guidelines are appropriate for evaluating AR systems, particularly for those with an industrial focus. To address this gap, this study aims to systematically review published design guidelines for AR applications in industry, identify overlaps and relevance, and propose an updated set of design guidelines with recommendations tailored to industrial AR applications.