AR Overlay Design

This skill covers designing augmented reality overlays that blend digital content with the real world. Unlike VR (which replaces reality), AR must coexist with the physical environment, creating unique design challenges around readability, placement, occlusion, and context-awareness. This skill addresses both mobile AR (phone/tablet) and head-worn AR (smart glasses, headsets).

## Key Points

1. Detect context change
2. Fade out current overlay (200ms)
3. Brief pause (100ms) — avoid visual chaos
4. Fade in new overlay (300ms)
5. Provide anchor point (where does new content appear?)
6. Allow manual dismiss if context detection was wrong
1. Less is more — Show only relevant data, not everything available
2. Progressive disclosure — Summary first, details on focus/tap
3. Consistent placement — Same type of data always in same relative position
4. Color coding — Use consistent, accessible color scales
5. Update frequency — Match data refresh to actual change rate
- Designing AR information overlays for mobile or headset