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Google Picturescape WebXR Experiment
Bringing a Spatial Photo Gallery to Life for the Open Web
Summary
The Challenge
Google Creative Lab had a raw concept for a WebXR experience — a spatial photo gallery that would reimagine how people engage with their own memories using immersive tech. But they didn’t have a defined shape, team, or direction for execution.
The challenge was to transform this loose idea into a working experiment — something creative, intuitive, and functional enough to test with a wide public audience via experiments.withgoogle.com.
There were also unique design and tech constraints: WebXR was still early, and the experience needed to run on standard browsers, across devices, with zero onboarding friction.
The Solution
We delivered a full end-to-end concept, identity, and spatial UI/UX design for what would become Picturescape — an immersive gallery that lets users walk through their own Google Photos in 3D space.
The project was structured using clear delivery systems from day one. A custom team was assembled around creative tech, brand experience, and WebXR expertise. Content, tech, and stakeholder comms were all tightly managed — ensuring we could explore freely without compromising timelines or scope.
Google gained a polished, testable experiment that reflected their innovation goals, and Picturescape went on to be showcased widely across Google’s developer and experimental channels.
Showcasing Google’s WebXR Experiments Featuring Picturescape
The Approach
Building the Foundation
A bespoke team was brought together across design, motion, creative tech and immersive storytelling. Systems were put in place to manage delivery across sprints — including asset tracking, creative approvals, and tech feasibility reviews.
Working closely with Google’s internal team, we defined the core concept, technical boundaries, and the parameters of “experimental” in this context — helping to balance creative ambition with browser-based constraints.
Designing the Experience
Brand identity, narrative framing, and spatial UI/UX were developed in tandem. The goal was to keep it open, intuitive, and emotional — a calm, responsive environment where users could explore their own photos in space.
The UX considered non-gamers and first-time XR users, so all visual cues and interactions were minimal and guided. Design exploration also included 2D fallback logic for non-XR access, to ensure maximum accessibility.
Production Leadership
Creative and technical production was managed from concept through delivery — with a strong focus on stakeholder alignment, quality control, and progressive testing.
This meant translating early-stage client prompts into concrete scope and deliverables, while holding space for the uncertainty that comes with experimental work. The team worked fully remotely, using structured rituals to stay aligned and adaptive throughout.
The Results
8
Weeks
Fast, frictionless execution, driven by structured systems and strategic delivery
40%
Budget Efficiency
Lean team model avoided bloated overhead, delivering agency-quality work with startup-level agility.
100 %
Remote Team
Multi-discipline team operated entirely remotely with no impact on delivery or quality