Nicole Lazzaro revolutionized XR design by leveraging facial expressions to gauge player reactions, pioneering emotion-based game design. Her company, XEODesign Inc.,founded in 1992, has been at the forefront of creating immersive XR interfaces and games, impacting over a billion player experiences across franchises like Myst and The Sims.

Lazzaro's "4 Keys to Fun" model has become a cornerstone in AI design for games and was instrumental in shaping IBM's emotion analytics. She has also carried out work on expanding the design language for XR – her ideology of no "WIMPS" (windows, icons, mouse, pointer, solo use) in the metaverse and to instead use "WHOAS" (worlds, hands, objects, avatars, social collaboration) forming a key part of this design. Furthermore, Lazzaro has made significant contributions to the design of spatial audio with her "RED Auxel" methodolgy.

Her work extends to advising industry giants like EA, Meta and Ubisoft on platforms and games including Myst, Horizon Worlds, Star Wars, and The Matrix, highlighting her influence in making XR a more emotionally engaging and human-centric experience.