Keep The Noise Down

Below the Surface

I regularly get asked the difference in designing for gesture-based interfaces.  I recently addressed this in an article for .net Magazine.  This may appear somewhat lazy but why rewrite the written? So here’s a reproduction of the article:-

With a wave of gestural mobile devices and gaming systems flooding the market, more and more people are interacting directly with digital content - click is fast being replaced by tap, flick and pinch.

Microsoft recently announced Project Natal, a sensor-based interface that responds to contact-free gestures such as a wave and a nod. And while we eagerly await this technology to come to market there’s plenty to be excited about already with the launch of Microsoft Surface.

Surface incorporates the naturalness of hand-gesture recognition but also blends reality and virtual reality by enabling users to interact with digital content using ‘real’ physical objects. From a design perspective there are a lot of new principles to master. Designing a Surface experience is not the same as designing for traditional websites.

The key is to avoid retrofitting existing experiences and introduce new ways of thinking that enable new interaction models. For those looking to get involved in this new era of interaction here are some pointers:

Make it finger-friendly

Fingers don¹t have the same level of precision as a mouse, so make sure all interactive elements are sized and spaced to optimise gestural interactions.

Encourage active exploration

Don’t make users memorize how to do things. Make the experience discoverable and reward the user for exploring. Always nudge and entice users to do more.

Enhance the user’s sensory experience

Don’t just focus on visual experiences. Surface doesn't just encourage but mandates a fuller sensory. Use sound to reinforce user interactions and create fuller sensory experiences.

Encourage social participation

Surface moves beyond solitary desktop experiences. Design your application to invite people to join in and encourage person-to-person interactions. Consider the challenges of multi-stranger versus multi-friends scenarios and different levels of task coupling.  For example, how do the actions of one user affect the other?  What happens when new people approach the table from a different side?

Make it alive

Ensure every action has an immediate response, regardless of how subtle this feedback is.  Even if no-one is interacting, don’t let the Surface device sit there lifeless.

Make it magical

Add a certain amount of realism but then augment it further with something that doesn’t exist in the real world. For example, use real-world behaviour such as acceleration but then disrupt the physics in a way that only a digital experience can.

Make the interface invisible

In a Surface experience, the interface shouldn’t be visible as the content becomes the interface. Design an interface-free application that enables users to directly manipulate the digital content.

Remember the enjoyment factor

Playfulness can manifest itself in many forms, such as through copy or interaction design, not to forget playfulness through interaction with other people. Don’t ignore this important dimension in designing engaging and immersive experiences.

 

Where do we go from here?

Different gestural interfaces will bring different design philosophies and with this fresh and exciting challenges. Erase your mind to a world without GUIs and design with no preconceptions of interactions models that have been. Don’t underestimate what appear to be simple applications - often the simplicity masks the complexity.

 

For those interested in learning more about Microsoft Surface then I recommend grabbing a copy of the October edition of .net magazine.  In the Microsoft Expression Supplement are some excellent articles including a 'Guided Tour of Expression' by Paul Dawson, a guide to 'Building a Prototype using SketchFlow' and many more interesting articles...

“The ear is totally neglected. Everything is centred on the eye”

I borrowed this quote from Daniel Barenboim’s talk on the Nature and Power of Music. Most technological experiences, especially online, have been primarily visual experiences.  The web gives us a visual workout but few online experiences stimulate our hearing to create fuller sensory experiences.  With the Microsoft Surface interaction paradigm it’s time to prepare for an audio assault as sound is getting the consideration it deserves.  Interaction Designers are digging deep in to their auditory and visual toolkit as sound gets crafted in to the Surface experience. The ear is back in vogue.

OK, so the gaming industry has been treating our senses to full immersive experiences for some time but most other technological experiences have relied heavily on visual alone. 

Surface doesn't just encourage but mandates a fuller sensory experience.  But are agencies ready to build auditory experiences and are clients ready to pay for sound design?

If you can communicate the return on investing in sound design to your clients then they will pay for it. Sound is not there just to titillate the senses.  It is used to enhance a brand, stir emotion, create immersive experiences and communicate information. When users manipulates digital content, information is revealed through sound, visual feedback and movement. Sound is not simply about providing a fuller sensory experience but acts as another information layer.

I recently met with Andrew Diey, Founder & CEO of Radium Audio, a leading music and sound design company that have experience in designing sound solutions for Surface experiences. Does Andrew feel that clients are ready?

Andrew doesn’t see such digital auditory experiences as a huge leap.  Advertisers know the importance of sound to enhance a brand.  This is not about introducing something new but transferring a proven art to a new paradigm.  Andrew believes clients are ready but it’s down to agencies to communicate the value of sound. Andrew suggested agencies establish a manifesto which defines the terms on which they approach immersive experience design.  The manifesto should outline principles, policy and action plans for future work in immersive experiences.  Most agencies have a design manifesto but does it include sound?  If you want your client to buy in to sound design then you need to plan for it from the beginning.  The task of getting your client to understand the value depends on your belief and recognition that sound is critical to the delivery of a full sensory experience.

Are agencies ready?  Yes.  It hasn’t been about not having the sound design know-how but more so about not having an environment where sound design is treated with the same importance as visual design.  Most agencies that specialise is online solutions may not be experienced in sound but with experienced sound designers such as Radium Audio there is no reason for agencies not to be ready. Sound is part of an interaction designers domain to define audio feedback that complements the interaction and visual design. The brief is then given to the sound designer, internal or external, to weave their  magic and create seamless experiences between the audio and interaction.

At EMC Conchango we have in-house sound design capabilities but we are not professional Sound Designers. For superior production and bespoke sound design we look to work with professional sound designers. We employ experienced Art Directors and Creative Designers to achieve our creative vision.  Our approach to audio is the same.  To craft an immersive auditory experience we need to work with the best.

So there is no reason why we should not be entering a new sensory era of compelling and immersive experience that combine sight and sound. It’s now up to us to be heard...

Designing NUI Experiences

A few months back I posted a collection of Microsoft Surface tips from the Twitter hashtag #Surfacetip. The 140 character limit is somewhat challenging so I'm planning to tackle these tips one-by-one in a tad more detail.

I’ll start with a simple tip, but one that resonates with me from recent projects, and that is ensuring that everyone is on the same page when it comes down to a common understanding of what a Surface experience is.

Tip #1 - Kick off every Microsoft Surface project with a half-day Play & Tell Workshop.

A challenge of natural user interface design is that this is a new paradigm in interface design and development. Surface invites a different way of interacting and manipulating content. This is not a subtle change but a significant change in the way we interface with digital content. For many folk this is a significant paradigm shift so don't expect everyone to take to it so easily.  Years of desktop and web applications means some people are understandably institutionalized and will take time to fully down their web way of thinking and enter this brave new world.

Another point is that although multi-touch has been around for several decades we are only now seeing mainstream adoption. The iPhone has accelerated the interest in multi-touch and the mobile market has been busy satisfying consumer demand for multi-touch and gesture-based computing. Although many of us appear familiar with multi-touch, there is still an element of novelty to these gestural interfaces which can mean that other features get overlooked.  And a Surface experience is much more than this. There are many new concepts to understand in Surface design such as multi-friends vs. multi-stranger experiences, collaboration, playful design, social interaction, object recognition, superrealism and 360-degree user interfaces.

And this is where the risk lies. If the team (client and internal project team) don't kick-start the project with a common understanding of the Microsoft Surface philosophy then the risk is that downstream you'll find yourself delivering an application that is not optimised for the Surface computing paradigm. 

The purpose of the Play & Tell Workshop is to inform the team of this new interaction paradigm through play and discussion. It's a great activity to actually kick off the project as the Surface device plays to its strengths of encouraging social interaction. The objective is to ensure that you share the same vision of a Surface experience.  This session is facilitated by a practitioner of multi-touch design. This should be a fun, exploratory session but the practitioner needs to articulate the features of the Surface experience. Some of the subtleties of good design need to be explained as these intuitive, natural and engaging experiences can mask the complexities and thought process that has gone in to them.

Our clients pay us to give them what they want but also for our expertise to guide them and help them make informed decisions. The Play & Tell Workshop kick-starts the project with a common understanding of the principles of Surface computing.  These principles must be kept in mind during the entire project to deliver an experience which is true to the spirit of Microsoft Surface.

 

If anyone wants to suggest further tips then please use the hashtag #Surfacetip

Keep the Gamers Happy

Last week Hungry Hippo came to Microsoft Surface.  As a child I munched my way through many a white plastic marble so I am fascinated to see how this classic children’s board game takes to a digital makeover. A number of puzzles, board games and arcade games have already been given the Surface treatment. Last month the Microsoft Surface Games Pack brought some classics to this interactive table, along with the Tetris-like addiction of the all-new Tiles game. These games demonstrate some of the amazing features of Microsoft Surface; multi-touch, multi-user, gestural experiences which are playful, rich and immersive.

Touch is important as consumers ditch controls in favour of manipulating digital content using natural gestures. It's early days for touch and there is understandably a novelty element around gestural interfaces so despite many of the games being relatively basic, they are still engaging the users. As we become more familiar with multi touch we won't be so easily satisfied and will demand more.

Gestural interfaces are the future, and wherever the future lies you'll always find gamers. Microsoft Surface is not intended as a gaming device but emerging technologies such as Surface give gamers a taste of where gaming can go.  Gamers are demanding types with an appetite for innovation so like many of us they want to squeeze the most out of these technologies. And that takes me to the point of this ramble. During demonstrations when I'm illustrating the features of Microsoft Surface I am regularly asked why none of the games utilize object recognition, why Microsoft Surface’s most compelling feature, and the feature that sets Microsoft Surface apart from other touch screen technologies is not used in any of the games so far?

Multi touch devices recognize multiple simultaneous touch points. Natural user interfaces enables users to interact in a far more natural and intuitive manner.  Yet Microsoft Surface offers more than this.  It houses five cameras inside the Surface unit which reads information from data (domino) tags and triggers events when physical objects are placed on the surface. This is about recognising the object, not just detecting the presence of an object. We have seen object recognition used to good effect in many other Surface applications, but not gaming. Surface has its limitations. It can't detect finger pressure and it doesn’t provide haptic feedback. Surface needs to play to its strengths and one of these is object recognition.

I'm not advocating we implement frivolous object recognition as it needs to enhance the experience. So whether it is as simple as an event occurring on the outcome of a throw of a dice or a playing card being placed on the table the object recognition must add to the experience. Take a look at Identity Mine’s Air Hockey.  This is a great illustration of natural gestures and showcases the magic of blending physical and virtual worlds, not to mention achieving complex events such as collisions and acceleration. The success of this game is in its simplicity and naturalness, but this is a game that clearly wouldn't benefit from object recognition.

Educational games lend themselves well to Surface and we're already seeing some interesting applications in this area.  Object recognition lends itself so well to child development as the technology can provide a richer sensory environment. For non-educational games we’re not seeing the same uptake. The absence of object recognition is not a criticism of Microsoft Surface or the talented designers out there but aren't we missing an opportunity to demonstrate the role of object recognition in interactions of the future. 

I know that there are plenty of creative minds out there so this is a challenge to the Surface community to conceive a gaming experience which benefits from object recognition.

If you have any suggestions on games or gaming events that would benefit from object recognition please comment on this post or post a tweet to #surfacegame.

Surface Computers as Interactive Learning Platform for Kinesthetic Learners

People learn in different ways. We are unique learners with our own learning style. Some learners have a dominant style whilst others display a mix of learning styles which they call upon in different situations. 

 

• Visual learners digest information by reading and observing. 

• Auditory learners process information through talking and listening. 

• Kinesthetic learners are doers and favour a hands-on approach. 
  

 

It's important to know how we process information best and learn 'our way'.  Traditional teaching methods often fail to support the learning style of kinesthetic learners, yet these learners make up somewhere between 5-15% of the population.  They are doers that work best when they're hands on and engaged in motor activity.  Unfortunately, some kinesthetic learners are mislabelled as ADHD. They are seen as hyperactive, difficult and even disruptive when in fact they just learn differently.

 

I'm no behavioural psychologist or education expert but am hopefully suitably informed to recognise the potential of technologies such as Microsoft Surface to offer immersive educational experiences which aid learning for tactile/kinesthetic learners. A typical classroom setting is not great for tactile/ kinesthetic learners.  These multitouch, multiuser interactive learning devices offer a better match and it's only time before they realise their potential and go on to play an important role in education for people who are kinesthetic-oriented?

 

 

What do these Interactive Learning Devices offer for Kinesthetic Learners?

 

Learn by doing: Kinesthetic users can learn from first hand experiences.

 

Learn through touch: Surface computing is a touchy-feely technology.  These natural user interfaces respond to natural gestures such as a tap, flick and pinch. Let the hands and fingers do the talking.  The tactile nature of a Microsoft Surface experience is not limited to the surface display but extends to the touch of physical objects which are recognised when they are placed on the surface.

 

Learn through movement: These active learners have an environment which supports their need to be involved physically. Kinesthetics take in information best when they are moving.  Surface devices don't follow the desk-and-chair paradigm so kinesthetic learners aren't tied to sitting down in one place while they interact. 

 

Learn through engagement: These highly interactive devices incorporate imagery, video, and audio to provide immersive experiences where the learner can interact with and manipulate content.

 

Learn through participation: Kinesthetic learners participate in single user or multi user experiences through digital play.

 

Clearly Microsoft Surface, the SMART Table and X-Desk are devices that provide a learning environment to help kinesthetic learners succeed in a learning system where otherwise they may be left behind. Let the development begin...

 

Related reading: Digital Play as an Alternative to Drugs

Microsoft Surface causes Tweet-storm

It’s been a funny old week for Microsoft Surface.  A lesser known marketing agency has been catapulted in to the spotlight after they published a post describing their frustrations setting up the Surface device.

If Laurel and Hardy had been tasked with setting up Surface then this would be their perfect script.

"After 20 full minutes of looking and reading (on how to turn the device on), the three of us, each with a 4-year college degree, finally punted and called the help desk"

They later admitted their drama was embellished for comedy effect.  So surely this humorous account of technical ineptitude would be dismissed as one person’s struggle to conquer basic tasks?  No, instead the controversy that this post ignited saw the mavens set to work.

“Our sleepy little company blog could count on about 20 hits a day (thanks Mom!), and as of today we’ve gotten over 20,000.”

Hundreds of twitterers jumped on the bash-a-Microsoft-bandwagon and this sorry story of one company’s failure to plug in the device spread like wildfire, with alarmist headlines such as “Microsoft Surface sucks a whole bunch to set up.” 

Why did this post create such a stir? Because where Microsoft is concerned, there are always people looking to have a pop. This tweetsteria was quickly followed by the same company’s naive quip asking why they ship a multi-touch device with a keyboard! Again, the bash-a-Microsoft-bandwagon wheels started rollin'.

For any reasonably intelligent individual, plugging the Surface device in shouldn't be a challenge.

For any practitioners in multi-touch design the reason for shipping a keyboard and mouse is clear. Audio & visual cues don't compensate for tactile feedback. Without haptic feedback, virtual keyboards don't quite cut it. Of course the user mode is gesture-based but to administer a PC with a virtual keyboard! no no no. It will happen but they’re just not there yet.

But the tweets kept on coming with twitterers rejoicing at the revelation that Microsoft Surface is shipped with a keyboard.

And then came the twist...the marketing agency did a u-turn.  They pulled their original post and replaced it with a sort of apology come more accurate view of the events.  Was this because they realised that their stab at humour had attempted to undermine a landmark device that has brought natural user interfaces to the mainstream?

But this replacement post served to fuel a further wave of tweetsteria with headlines such as “Microsoft contacts blogger and has it removed”.

 

STOP! Aren't we missing the point?

 

Natural user interfaces have been around for several decades but we are finally seeing mainstream adoption. The iPhone has accelerated the interest in multi-touch, no longer niche, but with Microsoft Surface natural user interfaces have truly come of age.  

Microsoft Surface incorporates naturalness, encourages social interaction, and brings playfulness to the party.  We are living in interesting times.  Microsoft Surface offers a different way of interacting and manipulating content.  This is not a subtle change but a revolution in the way we interface with digital content. I am glad to be involved in this interaction revolution.

We should be celebrating this new interaction paradigm and applauding the technology giants we-love-to-hate. However, the past seven days for Microsoft Surface has been all about the circus surrounding one team’s struggle to set up the device! Any setup shortcomings pale in significance to this giant leap for the next generation of user interactions. 

Of course the Surface device is flawed and yes, there is much to criticise. What device isn't?  Microsoft Surface is at the beginning of a long journey and I imagine that by 2012 it will be a very different beast. But it’s presentations like Tap is the New Click that remind me we are living in exciting times. 

 

Fortunately this circus has a happy ending.  The agency’s latest post recognises that “the Surface unit itself is a fantastic touch-screen computing experience ...” and “it is a great platform that will be exciting to watch develop in the future...”  hear hear.

The Marketing Company clearly understands the value of Microsoft Surface in evolving this interaction paradigm.  Had they envisaged the “web-muck” that would follow their post it is unlikely they would have posted their original comedy-take-on-events.  Not because they shouldn’t shout down Microsoft, but because this has distracted everyone from the huge step that Microsoft Surface has taken in bringing this new interaction paradigm to the masses.

Instead of celebrating the shortcomings of Microsoft Surface, let the engaging experiences make the headlines.

Microsoft Surface tips

  

 

The usual #Surface suspects have been posting their Microsoft Surface tips on Twitter.  To avoid losing these design recommendations for this interaction paradigm in to the twittersphere I have collated the first 20 tips below.  

If anyone wants to suggest further tips then please use the hashtag #Surfacetip and I'll continue to post them in batches of 20.

 

@wandster Microsoft Surface tip 1: ensure the project team share the same vision of a Surface experience to minimize risk of a paradigm face-off

 

@wandster Microsoft Surface tip 2: for optimal experience keep features trim & create a focused experience which contributes to a single purpose

 

@wandster  Microsoft Surface tip 3: playfulness is a must in the spirit of a Surface experience as this new breed of app has an enjoyment factor

@stevedawson agreed, playfulness is important for #Surface - the best experiences balance playfulness with accessibility

 

@wandster  Surface tip no.4: Don't do it just cos' you can. Only use object recognition where it adds to the experience. Avoid gimmickry...

@stevedawson Yea, that is a tough one - especially when object recognition is a core #Surface tenant and differentiator vs. other multi-touch

@stevedawson Fortunately, I think most experiences can benefit from object recognition - so it's not just about the "magic"

@wandster it's about using it well to add to the experience - the concierge app is a great #Surface app that doesn't use obj recognition

@lhamilton objects should insinuate user expectations of the exp & reinforce behavior & interactions; its a huge differentiator for #Surface

@lhamilton OR is the power of #Surface, it brings the analogue and digital together. Yes, some are butchering, but that's why we have jobs!

 

@wandster MS Surface tip no.5: Engineer the #Surface interface to 'encourage' social interaction.

@lhamilton Agreed, it should be the catalyst

 

 @stevedawson Tip No. 6: No, you should NOT try and mount #Surface on a wall :) - we get the question all the time.

@wandster  am surprised no-one has youtube'd what does happens you wall mount a Microsoft Surface unit!

@stevedawson I'm sure #surface on a wall will happen eventually - the whole "gravity" thing wouldn't mesh well with object recognition

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip no.7: the best gestural interfaces need to be discoverable, except when they're used in a point-of-sale process

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip no.8: If it needs instruction, there's room for UI improvement; surprises are good but exp should not be dependent on them

@wandster absolutely - #Surface experiences should be immediately learnable. However, enterprise apps can afford some cost of setup

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip no.9: its not what's just on screen, the environment is key to user engagement and attraction affordances

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip no.10: i think @odannyboy said it best, the complexity of the gesture should match the complexity of the task

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip no.11: visual and auditory responses are key to reinforcing successful user interactions and building trust w/ the user

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip 12: vision-based systems measure both location of a touch & its direction; utilize the user(s) orientation to enrich the XD

 

@lhamilton: MS #Surface Tip 13: Surface unit's make great work-space heaters in the winter time, however they do not make hot chocolate

@phenomblue so true!

 

@lhamilton MS #Surface Tip 14: avoid putting vital features/info, like labels, below interface items that can be touched, the user's hand could hide it

 

@swervinerv MS #Surface Tip 15: UI orientation should be 360 degrees and/or easily interchangeable based on user direction/interaction

 

@wandster Microsoft #Surface tip no.16: Use audio to i) complement the interaction and visual design, and ii) to enhance the users sensory experience

 

@joshblake #SurfaceTip #17 Both #Surface and real life are continuous experiences. Design a continuous UX: smoothly animate every visual change.

 

@wandster #Surfacetip No.18: Check the room lighting before you install your #surface unit - light spill is your enemy.

 

@joshblake #SurfaceTip #19: When you think of a cool application idea, also consider: "Would anyone actually pay money for it?"

 

@meekalbajaj: #Surfacetip 20: Design for different interaction durations. Applications should cater to interaction times of 2, 10 & 30 min

Microsoft Surface: the Master of Digital Ceremonies

On multi-touch devices like Microsoft Surface and the SMART table multiple users interact with digital content concurrently.  These digital social experiences extend beyond a poke and a tweet as users interact face-to-face.  The success of these multi-user social platforms depends on the familiarity of the users, a cocktail of cultural and situational factors, and the interfaces ability to encourage social participation.

The way I see it is that the role of the Microsoft Surface interface is akin to that of a compère of a public show, whose job it is to engage the audience and keep the show moving.  The success of the show depends on the compère’s ability to not only entertain but to make the audience feel at ease.  The audience’s social confidence is drawn from their familiarity with the people around them. Therefore the role the compère plays in encouraging social interaction is significantly influenced by the audience’s degree of familiarity. It is this role of as Master of Digital Ceremonies that forms an important part of our Surface interface design strategy.

I recently worked up two Microsoft Surface concepts which took very different approaches to engaging the audience.  These approaches were influenced by the familiarity of the target audience.  The first concept was a collaborative enterprise search application.  All the users are from the same company so the audience has a degree of familiarity. The second concept was a CRM application in a public space.  The participants are in the main strangers and do not know one another.

This is what Microsoft refers to in their Surface User Experience Guidelines as multi-friends and multi-stranger scenarios.

And it is this distinction around participants’ degree of familiarity which requires a different social design strategy. How your interface welcomes the users?  How does the interface provide a way for another user to join? How the interface rewards cooperation? Does the interface make it clear to a user how to join in? etc

Poor social engineering means the interface will fail in its role as host of a cooperative social experience.  We endeavoured to ensure the interface succeeded as host of the digital show and did not exlude or discourage social particpation. 

 

Consider the following 'somewhat obvious' example: In the multi-friends scenario of the enterprise search application a busy screen showed no negative impact in encouraging new users to join the experience. User testing further showed that a 'cluttered' interface actually appeared to intrigue new users and encourage conversation and social participation. In the multi-stranger scenario of the CRM application new users showed reluctance to enter what they referred to as a ‘messy’ interface and this created a barrier to entry. In this scenario the Surface interface needs to work harder to encourage user participation and social activity.  We achieved this by simply reducing content clutter, which had a significant improvement on social participation.

Boost Brain Power

Having read an article on how to increase one's productivity it got me thinking whether there is something missing from our design strategies. We want users to achieve their mental peak when using an application but what are we doing to encourage this?  Where is the Mental Strategy?  Research shows that mental performance is improved by standing, walking and even simply gesturing yet the average office set up supports this trend of sedentary experiences, based more on comfort than optimising a user’s thinking ability.  

My point is that devices and applications in a business context should be conducive to optimizing our performance.  Unfortunately given half a chance many workers would relish a zero-gravity reclined-seating workstation. In an inactive society where a device which contributes towards our obese nation such as the remote control is celebrated for helping satisfy our sedentary desires, would a device that bucks this sedentary trend and shifts away from the desk-and-chair paradigm be well received? 

If research shows that physical activity can rejuvenate a flagging brain, provide mental stimulation and help us think then why is it not factored in to the design? 

I have been heartened by the Wii (and not forgetting Sony’s EyeToy) which has been instrumental in getting many couch addicts up off their backsides. The Wii is a games console designed to create a fun and immersive gaming experience and not to boost brain power but there is much we can learn from the Wii.  

It’s more as a by-product of the physical form and the natural user interface that the latest multi-touch table devices encourage physical activity. Whilst there is nothing to stop you pulling up your favourite armchair alongside these interactive tables, this interaction paradigm encourages users to stand, walk and gesture.  If the research is accurate then these devices should improve our thinking power.  

 

So along with the entertainment, interactive and social plaudits heaped on these devices we can now add brain boosting.  Employees who remain deskbound all the time have their productivity stifled so will this be the start of a new generation of active and productive office computer users?

Interaction Revolution

Imagine a digital utopia where designers are free from grid-based design, and precision mouse control & clicks are replaced by gestural mechanisms. Where imagination is not exclusively for the mavericks to throw a curve ball at what’s achievable. Where we move away from the chair-and-desk paradigm and the frightening portrait WALL-E depicts of a human race whose only physical movement is to lift a straw to their lips.  This is the new paradigm – a natural, active and social paradise where reality and virtual reality blend seamlessly with magical results.

Well, not quite.  But there is plenty to savour from a paradigm that incorporates naturalness, encourages social interaction, and brings playfulness to the party.  We are living in interesting times.  Consider multi-touch, these devices offer a different way of interacting and manipulating content.  This is not a subtle change but a revolution in the way we interface with digital content.

Many people are getting their first taste of natural user interfaces and there is an understandable buzz.  The Web 2.0 movement harnessed collective intelligence built on a framework of creativity, collaboration, group thinking and sharing. This was a positive step forward for digital experiences.  Web 2.0 made us feel good about ourselves for being more social while all the time we sat staring at a monitor, engaging in less and less face-to-face contact and developing a distorted view of social relationships. So how do we take another step closer to a digital utopia?

It was with several recent Microsoft Surface projects that I had a eureka moment and realised the possibilities of this new interaction paradigm. As the projects threw up questions, it was the subject of these that made me aware of the dramatic changes ahead: -

·         Does the application work for single user, multi-friends and multi-stranger experiences?

·         Do we have the correct balance of playfulness?

·         Is it an exploratory experience?

·         Does the application have a pulse?

·         What is our social design strategy?

·         and so on...

These were fascinating questions to be asking about any application, even more so an enterprise application.

Natural user interfaces have been around for several decades but we are finally seeing mainstream adoption. The rate at which multi-touch applications is forecasted to grow over the next 3 years means that what are currently a small percentage of designers working on multi-touch applications will increase rapidly as there will be an ever-growing appetite for multi-touch solutions. The iPhone has accelerated the interest in multi-touch, no longer niche, and with Windows 7 multi-touch will truly come of age.  If you’re not working with multi-touch devices or NUI’s then does that matter?  No!  It's less about the technology driving our thinking but more about our thinking driving the experiences. The interaction revolution is as much about the evolution of the way we think about digital experiences. It’s exciting to ask these questions of the new breed of digital experiences.   If somehow we can answer some of these questions then we’ll take a huge leap forward in creating compelling and enjoyable experiences.

 

 

Related reading - Playfulness in a Business Context