One go-to approach is starting with a clear purpose. Before diving into 3D, we ask: what’s the goal? Whether it’s enhancing user interaction, showcasing a product, or creating an immersive experience, aligning the 3D elements with the app’s core functionality keeps things cohesive. For instance, in e-commerce apps, we’ve used 3D product viewers to let users rotate items, boosting engagement without overwhelming the design.
Tool-wise, we’re big fans of Unity for real-time 3D rendering. It’s a game-changer for mobile apps because it’s powerful yet flexible, letting us craft interactive elements that run smoothly across iOS and Android. Pair that with Blender for modeling and animation—it’s free, open-source, and perfect for creating high-quality 3D assets that we can tweak to fit the app’s aesthetic. For a London-based project recently, we used Blender to design a sleek 3D cityscape for a travel app, then brought it to life in Unity with subtle animations that didn’t hog device resources.
A technique we swear by is keeping performance in mind from the start. Mobile devices vary wildly in capability, so we optimize 3D models—think low-poly designs and efficient textures—to ensure they look mind-blowing without slowing the app down. We also lean on ARKit (for iOS) and ARCore (for Android) to integrate augmented reality elements when it makes sense, like letting users visualize furniture in their space for a home decor app. That blend of 3D and AR has been a real hit.
Another strategy is collaboration between our designers and developers. In our London studio, we’ve found that early mockups—sometimes using SketchUp for quick 3D sketches—help everyone visualize how the elements will fit into the UI. It’s all about balance; 3D should enhance, not overshadow, the user experience.
So, if you’re looking to integrate 3D into your designs, we’d say: define your intent, pick tools like Unity and Blender, optimize relentlessly, and keep the team in sync. It’s worked for us across countless projects here in London, and we’re betting it’ll give your designs that extra wow factor too! What kind of project are you working on? We’d love to brainstorm how 3D could fit in.
With the https://merehead.com/blog/ui-ux-design-trends-2025/ blog, designers can visualize concepts,
test assumptions, and get user feedback before designing
a product begins. Figma, Sketch, and Adobe XD are three popular
tools that designers use to create prototypes. Each of them has
its own strengths and weaknesses. In this article, we'll look
at these tools and give examples of how to use them for prototyping.
