LIV App is the #1 VR toolset that empowers YouTubers, streamers, VTubers, and other content creators to capture professional-quality VR content. LIV is known for mixed reality capture which lets user film themselves inside games, but it has a wide selection of features that will take VR content to the next level.

LIV App is company’s older product and is a key part of a multi-year partnership with Meta to bring LIV’s mixed reality capture & virtual camera solutions to developers publishing on Meta Quest.

Role: Product Designer

Team: I was the sole designer on this project, with full ownership of the product design function. As there was no product manager, I was responsible for defining the design direction, aligning on scope, and representing user needs throughout the process. The team consisted of the CTO and developers who had previously worked on the legacy LIV app. I acted as a bridge between user needs, technical constraints, and leadership priorities. Given the technical complexity of the product, I worked in close, ongoing collaboration with developers to ensure solutions were both usable and feasible.

Platform: Desktop app with VR features

Timeline: 1 year, implementation included

Current LIV App is too difficult to add new capabilities, resulting in inability to create tools that studios and creators need. Our partnership with Meta is at risk as they ask for new capabilities we’ll not be able to deliver on in a reasonable amount of time or quality.

Besides Meta partnership the new LIV Pro App will be our first professional product that we can commercially license. Licensees would be trailer production studios in VR, and prosumer creators in VR.

UX objectives from leadership for the redesign are:
- Make it easier for Mixed Reality production
- Make it obvious that LIV is for Mixed Reality users primarily

User of the new LIV Pro App:
- Primary user is a production studio capturing high quality mixed reality content for commercial uses (Trailers, ads, etc)
- Secondary user is a “prosumer” content creator producing high quality mixed reality content that isn’t necessarily for commercial purposes like streaming.

1. Understanding current usage of the LIV app:
I researched how the existing LIV app was used by two key user groups:

- Professional users who generate income by creating VR game trailers, through in-depth user interviews.
- Content creators producing YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram content, using insights from community surveys shared via Discord and analysis of existing YouTube tutorials that demonstrate real-world app usage.

2. Understanding technical constraints:
I developed an understanding of the app’s technical architecture and limitations through ongoing discussions with the development team.

3. Defining the MVP

4. Exploring and testing a new layout

5. Designing iteratively, section by section

- Each major section was reviewed and validated with professional users through user interviews.
- Key user flows were tested with creator users to ensure the experience worked across different use cases.

6. Iterative refinement:
Feedback was incorporated continuously, and the process was repeated until the redesign was complete.

To illustrate the starting point, the screenshot below shows the legacy LIV app:

- A floating UI panel with a nested structure that changed in size as users navigated between sections, making it difficult to maintain context.
- Some sections opened additional floating windows on top of the original panel, increasing cognitive load and visual clutter.
- A single compositor window was used for both previewing and screen recording

Problem statement: In production studio environments, the on-set filming workflow is forced to adapt to the limitations of our technology. This creates a risk of recordings being captured at the wrong quality or becoming corrupted, and increases the time required to verify footage—leading to costly delays for production teams.

The current app provides only a single composition window, which must simultaneously serve as:

- a live preview for the camera operator,
- a reference view for the actor inside VR,
- a monitoring view for the producer, and
- the screen recording used as the final video asset for post-production.

Combining all of these needs into one window introduces unnecessary constraints.

The photo below illustrates a typical film set, highlighting how multiple copies of the composition are required simultaneously.

In the current solution, users select from a dropdown menu in the Effects section that contains a set of hard-coded compositions. Users are forced to choose the option that most closely matches their needs, with limited flexibility or visibility into what each option actually includes.

This approach also relies on unclear internal terminology. For example, “Dump” is a company-specific term that does not explain which layers are included or their order. Users must learn this information outside of the app in order to use the output correctly during post-production.

Additionally, providing only a single composition (preview) window limits LIV’s ability to scale. If a user needs to record more than four layers, the current architecture does not support it. This is not sustainable, especially given existing requests to add additional layers such as a depth map.

1. To solve this user pain point, I introduced the Your Layouts section, where users can create an infinite number of layouts.

2. Users can choose either a grid layer layout or a layout with only 1 single layer.

3. Initially, layouts were even more flexible, allowing users to choose only 2 or 3 layers, but this was abandoned based on user feedback.

4. Users select the layers they need from a dropdown.

Introducing “Your Layouts” was a major shift in how the app worked, and initially it was challenging to get the team on board. The first design concept didn’t fully reflect the technical dependencies, so more technical stakeholders were understandably skeptical about how it would work in practice.

We addressed this by breaking down each functionality and iterating multiple times, finding common ground between design intent and technical feasibility. In the end, the team experienced an “aha” moment when the full system came together, realizing how much flexibility it gives users.

A key part of this project was maintaining the V1 scope and descoping any features that were not essential for recording video in the app.

Counterintuitively, a feature that seemed like a natural win—recording directly inside the app—was redundant for V1. While developers found it feasible within the timeframe and initially advocated for it, user interview revealed a critical discrepancy: for pro users, recording in-app consumed extra computer resources, which could interfere with running the VR game smoothly and risk crashes.

By validating each key section with users, I was able to identify this tension and prioritize what truly mattered for the MVP.

A similar example was the camera calibration process. Within our company, it was strongly preferred to avoid implementing the UI inside the VR headset. Thanks to this, we first proceeded with camera calibration only on desktop, since our old app provides both desktop and VR options, and eventually both will be needed.

User testing showed that without VR calibration, users wouldn’t use the app at all. It was vital for them to move freely in their physical space during calibration, and returning to the computer wasn’t feasible because their space was too large for that workflow to work.

This project taught me how crucial it is to regularly return to users and validate even seemingly obvious assumptions. I was constantly challenged to correct my understanding of the app’s technical background or dive deeper into how it’s used on professional film sets.

This project demonstrates my ability to lead a complete redesign end to end—from defining the problem and shaping scope, to validating solutions with users and shipping alongside engineering. As the sole designer, I owned research, visual direction, and developer handoff, ensuring consistency and clarity across the entire experience.

The redesign significantly reduced product risk by validating core flows before build-out. By testing assumptions early and often, we avoided costly rework and ensured the team was building something users could understand and use. It also allowed the team to build confidence in the final solution before development was complete.

This work became the foundation for future features and established a UI that is more flexible and prepared for growth.