THE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 

GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree 

MASTER OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN 

on 

Monday, April 21, 2025

1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. EST 

Teams Link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MDNkMjAzNWMtNThiYy00Mzk3LThmOGItOTQzODU0YWQ5NjFi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22482198bb-ae7b-4b25-8b7a-6d7f32faa083%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%227ec6adf3-e12c-49fc-9e6a-722e2d7db77a%22%7d

Jiaze Yu 

will present a thesis defense entitled,  

"Virtual Reality “Space Agent” as a Socially Interactive Design Partner:

A Study of User Perception, Social Interaction, and Creative Engagement in Socially Interactive Virtual Environments"   

Advisor:  

Dr. Yixiao Wang, Georgia Tech School of Industrial Design  

Committee:  

        Professor Tim Purdy, Georgia Tech School of Industrial Design 

                Dr. Yalong Yang, Georgia Tech School of Interactive Computing      

    
  Faculty and students are invited to attend this presentation. 

Abstract  

While prior research has introduced the concept of Socially Interactive Virtual Environments (SIVEs), the ways in which these environments can support co-creative processes through socially expressive design remain underexplored. This thesis investigates how immersive VR environments can function as human-like design partners by responding to users with social presence, mutual awareness, and non-verbal feedback throughout the creative process. Building on previous work that employed a sphere-based SIVE, this study introduces a newly developed mist-based SIVE capable of ambient

 communication through lighting, symbolic weather changes, and spatial cues.

Twelve participants took part in a structured design workshop followed by Wizard-of-Oz–based evaluation sessions, where they interacted with both SIVE versions across two creative design tasks: an open house activity and a small exhibition space. Thematic analysis, and interaction analysis were used to examine how participants perceived and engaged with each environment. Results indicate that ambient expressiveness and timely, non-verbal responses enhanced participants’ sense of collaboration and positively influenced their design thinking and creativity. The thesis concludes with design implications for future SIVE systems and a framework for supporting meaningful human-agent co-design in VR.