Virtual Reality Experience Design Handbook Heuristics, Patterns, and Practices for Immersive Applications is the title of the book presented by Francisco Julián Martínez Cano and Rocío Cifuentes Albeza, professors at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). While there, the professors and co-editors of the publication also participated in the closing meeting of the Erasmus+ ABRAXAS project.

This publication is one of the main outcomes of the European project, ABRAXAS – Best Practices for High-Immersion Experiences Design (2023-1-PL01-KA220-HED-000157492), funded by the European Union. Both faculty members also participated in the project’s closing meeting, along with faculty from the Łódź University of Technology (Poland), the University of Vigo, and the University of Aveiro.

Their book is divided into four parts: fundamentals of presence; interaction, locomotion, and interfaces; narrative, social dimension, ethics, and accessibility; and heuristics, performance, and validation. Among other topics, it explains how to translate on-screen design patterns into spatial experiences and how to use spatial sound, lighting, and animation to guide attention. The manual, consisting of 16 chapters, offers a practical guide to creating intuitive and inclusive virtual reality experiences. It is intended for professionals, educators, and students in areas such as audiovisual communication, design, and application development. It proposes practical tools such as a specific heuristic framework for virtual reality, checklists, and immersive experiences like Gestalt Machina and SceneCraft VR—developed by the team at the OCAP Research Group (Observatory of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising) within the Department of Social and Human Sciences.

The book was edited by eight researchers from the four universities in the consortium: Rocío Cifuentes Albeza and Francisco Julián Martínez Cano (UMH); Iñigo Cuiñas and Itziar Goicoechea (University of Vigo); Dorota Kamińska and Grzegorz Zwoliński (Łódź University of Technology); and Rui Raposo and Mário Vairinhos (University of Aveiro).

The book was published by CRC Press (Taylor & Francis) in an open-access version, and the PDF can be downloaded for free from the project’s website.