Beyond the Wireframe: tools to design, analyse and prototype physical devices
Keynote at Fifth European Tangible Interaction Studio, ENAC Toulouse. Nov. 7-10 2022. https://alandix.com/academic/talks/ETIS2022-keynote/ For many years interaction design was driven by the abstractions of WIMP (windows, icons, menus, pointer). The details differ on desktop applications, web pages or smart-phones and the ‘pointer’ has evolved from mice to trackpad and touch-based interactions, however, for many digital applications, the central aspects are unchanged. What is different is that the screens we encounter, as Weiser predicted, are everywhere: embedded in physical appliances such as showers and toasters and situated in office walls and building facades. Furthermore, we are often engaging with digital applications that have no obvious screen or where the screen if present is only a small part of the interaction; these include voice assistants, semi-autonomous vehicles, and smart cities. Even where the dominant interaction is focused on a screen, the places where we use them and the physical activities, we are doing fundamentally affect the nature of the interactive experience: using a smartphone while sitting in an armchair and watching television, is very different from thumbing a quick message whilst walking down a busy city road on a rainy night. In this talk I will describe several design techniques and prototype tools that seek to address the physicality of digital interactions including the physical nature of the device itself and the physical context in which it is placed. This will include ‘soft’ formal methods to describe physical aspects of devices, ways to use video to model physical prototypes during early design and tools to encourage designers to keep the context of use in mind even when working on largely screen-based interactions. The talk draws on some long-standing work, parts of the recently published book 'TouchIT: Understanding Design in a Physical-Digital World' (co-authored with Steve Gill, Devina Ramduny-Ellis, and Jo Hare) and the InContext project (in collaboration with Miriam Sturdee and Anna Carter). The latter arose from the realisation that despite the vast number of design tools available, nearly all focus entirely on the screen and wireframes. We are asking "what is the Next Generation of UX design tool?" – perhaps you would like to join this conversation.
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Beyond the Wireframe: tools to design, analyse and prototype physical devices
- 1. Alan Dix https://alandix.com/ https://alandix.com/academic/talks/ETIS2022-keynote/ @alanjohndix Beyond the Wireframe tools to design, analyse and prototype physical devices
- 2. background …
- 4. topics • material design • spatial layout • the body • digital artefacts space and spatial arrangement digital artefacts virtual physicality material artefacts and design the body physiology
- 7. • material design • spatial layout • the body • digital artefacts space and spatial arrangement digital artefacts virtual physicality material artefacts and design the body physiology
- 8. model physical device states the device ‘unplugged’ the device ‘unplugged’ switch UP DOWN user pushes switch up and down two visible … and feelable … states physigram
- 9. model logical system light OFF ON two states of the system
- 11. exposed state particularly easy to understand and use but not always 1–1 light OFF ON switch UP DOWN user pushes switch up and down mapping 1–1
- 12. controlled state
- 13. compliant interaction (1) system state visible through control (2) system and user have similar effects press down UP DOWN press up kettle switch system down system down BOILING Temp < 100 POWER OFF POWER ON system state
- 14. 14 bounce-back button OUT IN user pushes switch in bounce back computer OFF ON (a) (a) switch (a) (z)
- 15. give it to designers …
- 21. physical context
- 22. • material design • spatial layout • the body • digital artefacts space and spatial arrangement digital artefacts virtual physicality material artefacts and design the body physiology
- 23. not just the screen https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cat_stares_at_itself_on_computer_monitor.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indoor_location_services_on_mobile_phone_(10928087126).jpg
- 26. Anna Carter Alan Dix Miriam Sturdee
- 31. next generation UX tools current state of the art new methods and tools for existing interactions tools for new interactions physical–digital devices audio, spatial, intelligent broader context, tool integration, connecting to developers
- 32. InContext investigate what is being used? what next? build envisionments and prototypes teach importance of context in UX deisgn
- 33. do we need new UX tools? loads of tools of lots of different kinds so what’s the problem? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wlm_flows_draft4_2.png
- 34. UX Design Tools Survey 2021 with 3000+ users HTTPS://UXTOOLS.CO/SURVEY-2021/ Product Designer UX Developer UI Designer
- 37. beyond the wireframe … scaffolding new designers including rich context enabling different modalities https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wlm_flows_draft4_2.png
- 39. investigate what is being used? what next?
- 40. remote workshops
- 41. CHI Workshop Photos: Konstantin Aal University of Siegen
- 44. storyboard designs with context
- 45. tinkering at the edges https://datatodata.com/builder/
- 47. behind the scenes transform: matrix3d(0.208836, 0.0683259, 0, -1.8007e-05, 0.0132405, 0.187365, 0, 1.29374e-05, 0, 0, 1, 0, 840, 175, 0, 1);
- 48. what next? workshops => roadmap senses beyond sight links to service design context sketching made easy early-stage data and architecture integration … beyond 1970’s filesystem maybe something for you? https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bouquet_of_3_Roses.svg
- 49. Beyond the Wireframe tools to design, analyse and prototype physical devices Alan Dix https://alandix.com/academic/talks/ETIS2022-keynote/