Naver Webtoon 네이버 웹툰 for Apple Vision Pro
Role: Concept, UI/UX, Motion Graphics, Illustration, 3D Rendering
In Collaboration with 허원범 (Role: 3D Rendering of Artist Room)
2024

Naver Webtoon is one of the world’s largest platforms for digital comics, offering a vast library of serialized webtoons across various genres. Originating in South Korea, the platform revolutionized the comic industry by introducing vertical scrolling and mobile-optimized storytelling, making it easy for readers to enjoy content anywhere, anytime.

For this project, we were given the opportunity to completely reimagine the Naver Webtoon experience for the Apple Vision Pro. Utilizing the unique capabilities of the Vision Pro, we redesigned the experience to be seemless, natural and immersive.

This project was presented to the teams at Naver, Naver Webtoon, and Apple Korea.

For the Home page, instead of a traditional 2D interface, we’ve designed a 3D immersive space inspired by something familiar: A Shelf.

This digital shelf gives you an elegant way to view all your saved Webtoons at a glance. It’s more than just functional; it’s personal. Each shelf can be customized with figurines and artwork from your favorite webtoons, making it uniquely yours.

Our research revealed that reading habits vary widely among users. While most readers follow 1-3 webtoons at a time, some engage with over 20. The shelf dynamically adapts to your habits, so if you need more space, simply add another shelf.

The cookie component of Webtoon has also been reimagined. An interactive cookie jar sits on the shelf, blending utility with charm.

One of the most exciting aspects of Vision Pro is its natural interactivity. With just your eyes and a custom gesture, you can instantly select and dive into a webtoon—making the experience natural, seamless and efficient.

The Vision Pro’s infinite canvas allows us to adapt Webtoons to a horizontal orientation, creating a more immersive and comfortable reading experience with minimal eye strain.

As the reading experience is a key part of Webtoon, we want to push the boundaries with the unique capabilities of the Vision Pro. Webtoons gain depth and dimension. Shadows and layers in the artwork come alive, adding a whole new perspective to the stories we love. When reading, the Adaptive Immersive Background dims and adapts to the changing scenes. This rain scene for example, enhances the moment with subtle rain visuals and sound cues, pulling you deeper into the story.

As users have to scroll frequently when reading, we’ve also created a custom scroll gesture that eases hand fatigue, providing a more comfortable reading experience.

With Bullet Comments, you can leave reactions directly on any part of the story. Everything happens right where it matters most. It’s instant, interactive, and seamless.

Readers can share thoughts in real time, fostering deeper community engagement and making the reading experience more immersive and dynamic.

Read+ is a whole new way to experience webtoons together. With Read+, you can create book clubs with friends and read webtoons side by side, no matter where you are. See where your friends are in the story, share live reactions, and even use fun props to interact with key moments, in real time.

Read+ transforms reading into a social experience, where discussions happen naturally, and every reaction feels more connected. Whether you’re laughing at a plot twist or celebrating a favorite scene, you’ll never feel like you’re reading alone.

It’s more than just reading—it’s about sharing stories and creating memories together.

We want to blur the boundaries between 2D and 3D, not just in the reading experience, but also in the explore page.

Hovering over a webtoon transforms its 2D cover into a 2.5D visual, seamlessly connecting it to the webtoons on your shelf. We’ve also retained the sneak preview feature. Just like on the original app, you can scroll through a preview—but now, it’s been adapted to a horizontal format that fits the Vision Pro’s interface and guidelines.

Artist Page has been one of the biggest updates in the Naver Webtoon app—a place where creators can share works, post sketches, and connect with fans about upcoming projects.

We’ve taken this experience to the next level by transforming Artist Page into a 3D Artist Room. Each Artist Room is tailored to match the most popular webtoon of the artist, creating an immersive fan experience.

Artist Rooms also provide exclusive assets that users can then add to their shelves.