Verso un ecosistema phigital. L’immersive user experience come indagine preliminare per la progettazione di esperienze interattive

In the context of the growing development of interactive environments, characterized by the reciprocal interaction between data, technologies, and communities, immersive experiences are emerging as central elements that not only enhance the ways users interact with digital content but also serve as experimental platforms for design (Berni & Borgianni, 2020). Specifically, Extended Reality is now widely used to transport us- ers into virtual environments, enabling preliminary testing and gathering feedback to optimize projects across various scales. This trend highlights how immersive realities are profoundly transforming the ways people interact with and perceive digital content (Zhang, 2020). In light of these transformations, it becomes essential to consider the evaluation of im- mersive user experience (referred to as Immersive User Experience - IUX) as a prelimi- nary, essential step for collecting truly valuable and meaningful data (Agudelo-Vélez et al., 2021) within an increasingly "phygital" design ecosystem. A rigorous assessment of IUX is crucial for understanding how users perceive environments that, while not physically tangible, can still be considered “places” to inhabit (Çöltekin et al., 2020). For this reason, measuring and understanding human interactions within advanced dig- ital spaces is necessary to identify the resulting relationships and dynamics, avoiding misleading information due to a lack of attention to the user experience type. This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature by providing a critical overview of current tools for evaluating virtual "non-places" and exploring how, in anticipation of future developments toward digital/physical cohabitation and phygital ecosystems, designers cannot overlook experience design that is both ethically and qualitatively informed.