ALEXANDRIA
HESTON
Systems - Spatial Computing - Interactions
I design spatial computing systems, currently at Apple's Vision Products Group. My background spans Niantic, Magic Leap, and Across Realities, where I led interaction design across mobile, headset, and multi-user platforms. I start from the full landscape of constraints and human needs. From there, I build the structure underneath an experience so it holds together once real forces act on it.
I design spatial computing systems, currently at Apple's Vision Products Group. My background spans Niantic, Magic Leap, and Across Realities, where I led interaction design across mobile, headset, and multi-user platforms. I start from the full landscape of constraints and human needs. From there, I build the structure underneath an experience so it holds together once real forces act on it.
Systems - Interactions - Spatial Computing
ABOUT
Designer currently on Future Platforms at Apple's Vision Products Group. My background spans Niantic Inc, Magic Leap, and Across Realities where I have led systems and interaction design across mobile, headset, and multi-user platforms. My work starts in complexity: understanding the full landscape of constraints, failure points, and human needs. Then, I make connections by seeing through different modes, across disciplines, and find the thread that solidifies a concrete resolution.
01
contextual notifications
Apple · Vision Products Group · 2022–Present
In collaboration with leadership and engineering, I led innovations in notification behavior for a head-mounted device (HMD). The system weighs a wearer's real focus against a message's potential relevance and urgency.
Our major considerations were whether the wearer is focused, in conversation, or occupied by their surroundings. Based on this, the device decides to interrupt, hold, or progressively reveal a notification through gaze. The presentation system uses gaze as a trigger for progressive disclosure, revealing more information to a person over time. Content begins from an unassuming, quiet state, signaling that something is there without demanding attention. Sustained gaze invites it to unfold and reveal itself fully.
02
environmental automations
Apple · Vision Products Group · 2022–Present
Multiple explorations into day to day home activities revealed that the scale for human interactions in the home is rarely accounted for in head-mount device (HMD) prototypes. In a home with many connected objects, each could display a status continuously regardless of relevance.
This led to the design of recognizing user and object triggers. The first mechanism prompts for confirmation before running a routine, triggered when the headset is put on or taken off. The second displays a status only when it deviates from what is expected, compared against a baseline that shifts with time of day and routine. A single instruction can also fan out to several connected devices through one intermediary, rather than addressing each one directly.
03
pokémon go ignite
Niantic · 2020–2022
This project was designed in collaboration with The Pokémon Company as a future concept, building on Pokémon GO's own success at inspiring millions of people to adventure outdoors. The goal was to enhance that existing mobile experience and its lore. I translated Pokémon GO's mobile inventory system into a menu interface that could move with you as you explore the outdoors.
A wearer browsed the new menu with a turn of the wrist and selected an item with a pinch, keeping the main field of view free to keep moving. A companion catch-and-throw system let a wearer aim and release using the same gestures. Hand movement along two axes mapped to throw displacement, with a projected arc line showing where a released Pokémon would land.
04
pancake pals
Magic Leap · 2019–2020
Pancake Pals is a shared party game built for two people in the same room. As project lead, I curated the host and client architecture connecting two players on Magic Leap One headset. I also designed a mobile app, which gives a companion their own in-session overlay, built specifically for someone watching rather than playing.
Responsible for the visual design, interaction design, and system design, I created a prompt system that warns a player before a connection failure happens. It explains what occurred once the connection resolves, leaving neither player to guess what the other saw. Pancake Pals shipped with session capacity visible to both players in advance, including 1st party invitation integration.
05
undersea
Magic Leap · 2019–2020
Working with lead designer Javier Busto, I designed the onboarding flow for mapping the environment of the room. This work explored whether a single mechanic could guide a wearer to scan enough of their room to warrant the necessity small, medium, or large requirements to space the experience needed.
I collaborated on the final design of reticle system with technical artist Jonathan Small, which became a five-state particle sequence. It guided a wearer through moving from a searching state to a completed state without a single word of instruction.
06
spatiate
Across Realities · 2018–2019
As the company's cofounder and lead designer, I created Spatiate's feature set to span across iOS, Android, and Magic Leap One. Our ultimate goal was to showcase digital spaces as a new frontier for shared social experiences. I mapped the same feature set onto two different interaction languages: touch on mobile, spatial placement and manipulation inside a headset.
By building a session architecture that tied all three platforms into one system, a single drawing saved on a phone stayed consistent with the same drawing viewed and edited in a headset. The end result never feeling like two different apps.