Hi Jake,
I think some talented designers from Stimulant in San Francisco might be on the list to comment. They're doing great work in this area and are most qualified to comment. I can pipe in with some realizations I had during my limited experience working on Surface design(s). Hope it helps a little.
* Human factors: became more important in the design process. Users having both hands or multiple fingers on the screen really meant having to think about limits of human anatomy more. How might this technology help or alienate the handicapped?
* Multiple user interactions: The surface table has an added challenge of multiple users sharing the same device, so dealing with simple screen real-estate, making best use of the physical and social interactions between users and designing new and interesting methods for such interactions is both challenging and fun. I really was amazed how much intellectual property there is in this space - despite being worked on by major companies, it's wide open.
* Consistency of interaction: Designing for this space means that the connection between visual cues and user actions is more complex. For instance, what signals a user that they can touch multiple sides of a window simultaneously? How might an interface convey to the user multiple-fingers can be used to select and object for differing behavior? One finger means x, while two, three or more means y. Where do the menus fall if hands are in the way during this procedure? Architecture is king in this space - and I can't say enough how many more variables are introduced by the addition of multi-touch, multi- user. This will tax our skills as designers.
To your excellent question about preemptive measures... being exposed to the technology is a good first step. We all have relatively active imaginations and some hands-on time with a surface table might light up the issues at hand. I think your enquiry is on time rather than too early. This technology is being defined now and will be making it's way into devices regularly.
I'd love to write a very complete paper defining architecture consistency in this space... What "best practices" should be applied to multi-touch/multi-user interfaces?
Best, -Dan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dan Peknik * Industrial/Interaction Design NASA Ames Research Center * Moffett Field, California ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Jan 7, 2009, at 10:46 AM, Jake Trimble wrote:
I was just wondering what people thought about the new Microsoft Surface. Has anyone had a chance to demo it or play with the SDK? Also, any thoughts on how interaction design will be impacted with MS Surface technology being used with Windows 7 (due out late 09 early 10)? What preemptive measures can we take to deal with the shift in how a user interacts (touch screen vs mouse) with applications on there desktop pc or laptop? http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/index.html Thanks, Jake ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
