Apple's Vision Pro: A Spatial Computing Game-Changer for Web Design?

Why This Matters

Speaking as someone who’s spent most of their career knee-deep in screen-based design tools, there's always been a fundamental snag with digital design: you’re restricted by the borders of your monitor. No matter how much you zoom, pan or fork out for a bigger screen, the experience remains flat and detached from the spaces your work will eventually occupy. For web and graphic designers, especially those wrestling with sites for clients on platforms like Squarespace, this creates a problem. How do you get a clear, realistic sense of what your design looks and feels like when it’s intended for users in a world filled with physical spaces and varied devices?

Apple’s Vision Pro wants to solve this particular headache by taking web and graphic design into spatial computing. This is a big claim. After all, many have tried and failed to pry creative pros away from their 2D comfort zones, and Apple is not the first to tout mixed reality as the future of work. The key difference is that if Vision Pro can deliver genuinely immersive previews, natural navigation, and seamless integration with your existing workflow, it could end up saving countless hours of back-and-forth guesswork. It can also make the actual process of designing more creative and less fiddly.

The stakes are high. We’re talking about an investment of time, money, and effort for designers and businesses who depend on streamlined, predictable workflows. If the Vision Pro lives up to the hype, it could mean less reliance on endless screen mock-ups, easier iterations, and fewer nasty surprises come launch day. The real-world significance lies in seeing designs as your audience will: in scale, in space, and with a kind of natural interaction that no static screen can match.

Common Pitfalls

It’s easy to be dazzled by Apple’s sizzle reels and forget the potholes on the road to genuine workflow change. The most common trip-up I’ve seen among designers is treating new tech as a magic wand: buy the gear, slap it on, and expect instant results.

A related mistake is assuming the transition from a 2D monitor to a mixed reality headset is simply a hardware upgrade. The reality is that if you’re not prepared to rethink your fundamental approach to space, movement, and hierarchy in design, you’ll end up using an expensive device to do the same old things, possibly with more faff than before.

Plenty of people also get tied up in knots worrying about compatibility, especially with platforms like Squarespace which, let’s be honest, haven’t always been the first to adopt bleeding-edge tools outside their core features. Add in concerns about wearing a potentially bulky headset for hours at a time (we’ve all heard horror stories about the Quest 2 and its ability to remind you that you have a forehead), and it’s easy to see why most folks sit on the sidelines.

The worst pitfall, though, is ignoring the possibilities altogether. It’s tempting to dismiss new tech as a flashy gadget (I know, I’ve done it myself with more gadgets than I care to admit) and stick with what works. That mindset can leave you trailing behind as others find slicker, more efficient ways to create and present design work.

Step-by-Step Fix

Let’s lay out a practical approach for web and graphic designers, especially those using Squarespace, who want to make sense of the Vision Pro, whether you’re already itching to try it or just working out if it’s worth a spot in your kit bag.

Step 1: Rethink Space in Your Designs

The jump from 2D screens to spatial computing is fundamentally different from simply adding another monitor. It’s a whole new way of thinking about the environments your work inhabits. Start by retraining yourself to notice and consider depth, scale, and the user’s position within a design, and avoid focusing solely on what’s visible in a browser window.

Consider billboard mock-ups, digital signage, or even product pages as they might feel in real rooms. The Vision Pro aims to let you view and interact with all these things at life size within your actual workspace or any room. This gives you insight into user experience in a way that Photoshop’s preview box never could.

Step 2: Dip Your Toes into VR and AR Design Tools

You don’t need to buy a Vision Pro on day one. There are accessible (and much cheaper) ways to start thinking in three dimensions. Try using free or low-cost AR apps on your phone to place digital objects in your environment. Familiarise yourself with tools like Blender or Sketchfab to get a sense of how models and environments are built and manipulated in 3D.

If you’re on a Mac, explore the basic AR features through Apple’s own developer tools or simple web-based AR viewers. These options won’t provide the full Vision Pro experience, but they will sharpen your instincts for how digital elements behave in space.

Step 3: Map Out Practical Use Cases

Most designers make the mistake of shopping for technology before solving a problem they actually have. Before you reach for your credit card, write down day-to-day frustrations in your workflow. Do you need to create more convincing pitch decks? Lose hours prepping mock-ups for every possible device? Struggle to explain spatial elements like signage or point-of-sale graphics?

Now cross-check these headaches against what spatial computing and Vision Pro claim to solve. For web design, that might mean:

• Instantly previewing a responsive Squarespace design in a room at 1:1 scale
• Navigating a new site layout with eye-tracking instead of tab-hopping
• Presenting design options live to a remote client with gestures and voice
• Testing interactive elements with real-world movement

Don’t chase novelty for its own sake. Identify two or three tasks that, if improved, would make a real difference to your bottom line.

Step 4: Audit Comfort and Workflow Integration

Before you get too excited by Vision Pro’s bells and whistles, be brutally honest about whether you can see yourself wearing it for significant stretches of time. Apple has emphasized comfort with lightweight frames, cushioned headbands, and textile seals. It’s much sleeker than many VR headsets, but even so, you’re strapping advanced computing to your face.

If you can, borrow or demo a Vision Pro or competitor device. Try using it for half an hour on tasks similar to your normal workflow: writing content, cropping images, updating layouts. Take note of any fatigue, motion sickness, or moments when you just want to take the device off.

Compatibility is another sticking point. While the Vision Pro promises deep integration with the Apple ecosystem, check what’s available for your daily tools such as Squarespace’s web tools, Adobe Creative Suite, or video editors like Descript. Are there visionOS versions, or at least smooth browser-based experiences? Is there lag when copying assets between devices? Identify your must-haves and where you can afford trade-offs.

Step 5: Experiment with Eye-Tracking and Gesture Controls

One of the Vision Pro’s best-publicised features is its intuitive interaction system: eye movement, hand gestures, and voice controls. These features may sound like science fiction, but they help make spatial design genuinely productive rather than just a novelty.

Start simple. Try replicating navigation and content selection using your eyes and hands with whatever tools you have. If the Vision Pro demo videos are accurate, you could be adjusting galleries, arranging design blocks, and playing with text alignment simply by looking at an element and pinching your fingers together.

Once you’ve grasped the basics, experiment with more complex actions, like resizing design canvases, dragging layers through space, or writing out content using speech recognition.

Step 6: Crunch the Numbers Before You Commit

This is the blunt end of the process, but it’s essential. The Vision Pro isn’t cheap, with a price of around $3,500 (and, let’s be realistic, probably the same number in pounds here in the UK). List the tangible gains: hours saved, client satisfaction, reduced need for third-party mock-up generators, fewer hardware purchases, stronger sales pitches.

Balance that against the learning curve, device wearability, app compatibility, and of course, cost. If you’re an agency or freelancer, evaluate whether a Vision Pro would win you new business faster than your current methods. For many, the first version of the device may be best left to early-adopters, while you keep learning from a safe distance.

What Most People Miss

The crucial trick, something I’ve learned from years of experience, is making sure not to fall in love with the hardware itself. Instead, focus on a new approach to designing for real people in real spaces. It’s easy to fixate on the immersive 3D aspect and lose sight of what makes good design. The Vision Pro offers shiny tools, but the real leap happens in your process long before you put on the headset.

Ask yourself if this technology helps you communicate ideas more clearly. Determine whether it can solve problems that come up every week. Are you re-inventing workflows, or simply dressing up old habits in new packaging? The designers who succeed with spatial computing will use it to build and test ideas at full scale, in context, while still caring about usability, clarity, and results.

A point often missed is that the Vision Pro will succeed or fail based on its software ecosystem. Apple’s tight control means integration could be slick, but if critical design tools or Squarespace integrations are lagging behind, it’s wise to wait.

The Bigger Picture

Making the most of these advancements changes how we build, sell, and interact with digital experiences. Imagine giving clients walk-through previews they can explore naturally, cutting revision rounds in half. Picture site demos that move beyond click-through PowerPoints and become full-scale, interactive environments. Design hand-offs, team feedback, remote collaboration—all of this changes when you’re not tied to a rectangle.

The benefits extend beyond immediate workflow improvement. Adding credible, forward-thinking demonstrations to your offering can set you apart, especially if you’re a small studio or freelance designer looking to broaden your appeal.

It's important to remember that new technology introduces friction, whether from price, comfort, or adoption. Early adopters will stumble, and some will eventually decide headsets aren’t for them. If you’re willing to adapt, learn, and focus on what you want to achieve, you could come away with services that are more intuitive, effective, and marketable than before.

Wrap-Up

Apple’s Vision Pro represents more than just another shiny product launch. Whether or not it’s truly transformative depends on how it’s used and whether it fits your goals. The real advantage comes from questioning your workflow, focusing on real improvements, and approaching new technology with steady experimentation rather than expecting instant transformation.

Here’s the bottom line:

• Start by training yourself to think and design in space, not just on screens.
• Use what’s at hand to explore simple mixed-reality previews—even basic AR on your phone.
• Audit how and why you’d want to use Vision Pro before committing serious money.
• Long-term success doesn’t come from buying the most advanced hardware, but from using technology to noticeably improve how people experience and buy your work.

If you want more honest, field-tested advice (and the occasional dry joke) about modern web design, join the Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.

We’re all learning, and now is a great time to swap notes on what works and what isn’t worth the hype. See you there.