The device is different from any other computing platforms you have seen before. If you are an experienced developer, you probably think that you know your way around computers and developing for Windows, but the truth is that HoloLens is not your average Windows 10 machine. There are some special and unique features that require another way of thinking about designing apps. Let's take a look at them again, and we will discuss what this means for your design process.

First of all, normal Windows 10 applications are flat. It does not matter whether you write console applications, desktop applications, store applications, or mobile apps--all the action the users...

Design is a specialized job that requires specialized skills. If you are lucky, you have access to professional designers and user experience experts. However, keep in mind that even those professionals probably have little or no experience designing holographic worlds. It is up to you to tell them what to design, how to design, and what things to keep in mind when designing.

I strongly believe in the Agile approach when it comes to developing software. This means that we form teams that are fully self-sufficient. In that philosophy, designers are part of the team, just like the developers, testers, and other professionals. Design is a very important part of developing software, and more so in a graphic-rich environment, such as apps for the HoloLens.

That being said, not all projects need graphical designers, user experience designers and, interaction designers...

We have talked about the bigger principles in the earlier sections of this chapter. From this point on, I will give you some pointers that will help you do the design work even if you are not a designer. Keep in mind that all this has to fit the big ideas outlined earlier.

I assume that you are an experienced developer. I guess you have written software before you picked up this book. Even if you have not done so, I think it would be fair to assume that you have used software before. Think about the apps you use on your smartphone. Which ones do you like to use? Which ones do you not like? Which apps do you use because you have to but do not enjoy doing so? Why is that?

It can be tremendously helpful to look at the software you use every day and make a list of things you like and dislike about them. This list will be highly personal--the things you like might...

It is not easy to identify what your app needs to shine. I earlier stated that you have to ensure that your app is goal-driven, but how do you achieve that? To help you do this, I have created the following workflow that you might want to follow when thinking about your next project:

1. Write down your mission statement.
2. Brainstorm all ideas.
3. Remove ideas that don't support the mission statement.
4. Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves.
5. Prioritize must-haves.
6. Implement.

Think about your idea. Can you describe it in one line? To help you do that, I have created a template to fill in:

"My app [app name] is the best app to help [audience] [task...

Let's take a side step. We are no longer rock-star holographic app designers and developers, we are rock stars. We make a living standing on stages all over the world, playing our music to thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people from all walks of life. We are the centerpiece of a rock band and, as such, personally responsible for giving the best show we can.

For years, we have done this in the same way. We have a fixed setup on the stage. After all, having your own spot on the stage helps with stage fright. All those different venues can be intimidating; that feeling can be taken away with having your own spot.

However, when every show all over the world uses the same setup, it is not likely that we are using the possibilities of the venue to its fullest. Every room or stadium has its own acoustics and layout. In order to give...

In this chapter, we learned a lot about designing your app for HoloLens. Although the main steps we took when we started thinking about our app are not that different from normal app development, we identified some key areas that require more attention. We also talked about the way people interact with each other and how to design your app around that. This is something you usually do not take into account when designing your app.

We took our first steps in developing our RockOn app. We started developing in Unity3D, and we added some assets to our holographic world. Then, we deployed that to a device and saw our 3D objects come alive. We are now ready for the next step!