For the first iteration of the Gallery of Freedom, we wanted to create an avatar that felt gender-neutral and had no race. One of our key principles is to make sure the avatars and architecture do not compete with the focus of the artworks. I created quick sketches of potential avatars using simple primitive shapes.

Avatar research can be found here:

https://www.are.na/gallery-of-freedom/avatar-xyzcfexsi48 (Ask Osebo for an invite to the Arena Group.)

A challenge associated with social VR is an indication that a single person is talking within a group of players. Using Normcore, we voice sync the avatar's mouth to move when another player is talking. We explored other affordances such as head expanding with audio synchronization.

A second challenge is making it clear which direction other players are facing. To solve this, we gave the avatars a green face with a white body.

In progress

Avatar can face color change prototype