Exploration

Iris loading state

Company

Year

Role

Contribution

Loading indicators like spinners and progress bars work fine on screens because they sit outside our focus. In Mixed Reality, UI lives inside our field of view, so these patterns quickly become distracting. I wanted to explore a more natural cue - something subtle enough to live in front of the eye without competing for attention. The dilation and contraction of the pupil felt like the right metaphor. It’s familiar, intuitive, and tied directly to focus.

Process

I started by looking at where MR loading states cause friction. Constant motion in your gaze adds strain, so the challenge was to find an animation that signals progress without overwhelming the eye. I tested scaling, opacity shifts, and easing curves to echo the rhythm of pupil dilation. The result is a loading indicator that blends into perception, signaling state change in a way that feels human and unobtrusive.