Embodied Aesthetics in Immersive VR Animation: An Operational Design Framework
International Theory and Practice in Humanities and Social Sciences July 16, 2026 Xiangting Jiao, Ahmad Rashidi Bin Hasan
Immersive virtual reality is typically assessed through presence, fidelity, usability, and task performance, but these measures overlook how technical transformation, abstract audiovisual form, and bodily activity together become materials for aesthetic design. This article proposes the Embodied Aesthetic Framework (EAF) for designing and analyzing immersive VR animation. Developed from phenomenology, enactivism, postphenomenology, animation aesthetics, presence research, and embodied interaction design, the EAF distinguishes three interdependent constructs: Technological Mediation, Aesthetic Abstraction, and Embodied Cognition. Reflective Awareness is treated as a contingent outcome, not automatic. The framework shifts attention from maximizing immersion to composing a legible relation among system transformation, audiovisual organization, and bodily sense-making.