1. Designing for
Unfamiliar Interfaces
Daniel Soltis
Creative Technologist, Moving Brands

2. The tale of the dongle
Status:
Connected. Blue LED blinks every 200ms.

3. The tale of the dongle
Status:
Network error. Blue LED blinks every 270ms.

4. from Gestural Interfaces: A Step Backwards In Usability
“There are several important fundamental principles of interaction design that are
completely independent of technology:
· Visibility (also called perceived affordances or signifiers)
· Feedback
· Consistency (also known as standards)
· Non-destructive operations (hence the importance of undo)
· Discoverability: All operations can be discovered by systematic
exploration of menus
· Scalability. The operation should work on all screen sizes, small and large.
· Reliability. Operations should work. Period. And events should not
happen randomly.
All these are rapidly disappearing from the toolkit of designers.”
Donald A. Norman and Jakob Nielsen
http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/gestural_interfaces_a_step_backwards_in_usability_6.html

5. What do I mean by
an unfamiliar interface?

6. Novel input
methods

7. Novel input
methods
Screen is
limited, unusual,
or not present

8. Novel input
methods
Screen is
limited, unusual,
or not present
Distance
between input
and output

9. Disruptive, uncover
opportunities and
problems, evocative,
fun to make...
but low usability interferes
with their potential

10. The tale of the gestural interface

11. The tale of the gestural interface
affordance

12. The tale of the gestural interface
accidental inputs

13. The tale of the gestural interface
dexterity

14. The tale of the gestural interface
dexterity and endurance

15. The tale of the intuitive interface
“Pictures Under Glass
sacrifice all the tactile
richness of working
with our hands,
offering instead a
hokey visual facade.”
-Bret Victor,
http://worrydream.com/
ABriefRantOnTheFutureOf
InteractionDesign/
expression vs convention

16. The tale of action at a distance
connecting cause and effect

17. The tale of the multisensory interface
comprehensible, for the right senses

18. The learning curve challenge
Curve
ing
arn
Le
FUN?

19. The learning curve challenge
Curve
ing
arn
Le
familiarity
transparency
progressive
FUN?
disclosure
trust

20. Challenges for users
Cause
What can I act on and what do my actions mean?
Effect
Is there feedback, can I perceive it, and what does
it tell me? What senses am I using?
The minority report problem
Do I have the physical or cognitive skill to perform a
task?
Learning curve
How much time am I willing to invest in learning this
system? Do I trust that the eventual reward is worth it?

21. Challenges for designers & inventors
Technical proof of concept Design concept
Hobbyist/fun User-centred design
vs.
Technical feasibility Design intention
Uncovering new territory Hindsight

22. Meeting those challenges?
Donʼt throw out the familiar. Conventions, metaphor,
discoverability, consistency can all be helpful.
Pay particular attention to sensory and physical
factors.
Provide feedback at the point of interaction,
preferably with the same sense as used for the input.
Design with intention, user test, iterate, etc.

23. Thanks!
Daniel Soltis
danielrsoltis@gmail.com
@ds1935