Handles and buttons Continuous (analogous) User Interfaces beyond the screen

UI Beyond the Screen
17 Feb 2016
Jason Mesut
Founder, Resonant
Local Leader, IxDA London
@jasonmesut

We’re going to watch some videos this evening

Corning — A day made of glass 2

How would these future solutions
work as part of your life?

What does your home look like?

Original iPhone
??
2007
—Direct manipulation
—Dynamic display
—Rich graphics

Knobs
Buttons
Switches
Levers and handles

I believe…
We should be designing products and services
that fit our worlds, and enhance our lives

Technics 1200 SH-101
OP-1Tenori-On
I love
objects

Q-Bert
Technics
1200
Roland
SH-101

Q-Bert
Technics
1200
Milo Mesut
Yamaha
Tenori-On

Why do I care about the
future of User Interfaces?

5years
Industrial Design
years
Digital User Experience
16

4years
Local leader
Interaction Design
Association
L o n d o n
Subjects over 4 years
Internet of Things
Future of publishi...

Working on a new transportation
service for past 2 years
Icons created by Vicons Design from the Noun Project
?
– Helps pe...

– Design trends and strategy
– Interaction design
– Visual inspiration
– Animations
– Video
Also conceiving future
UI for ...

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
Targeting a long term future

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
The earliest release

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
The time horizons digital designs for

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
How long the solution may exist for

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
Different time horizons

2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025 2027 20292016 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030
Future fuzziness

Safety vs. sales
– In-car UI
– Considering autonomous driving
– A long term future

UI/UX/SD/DSUser Interface User eXperience Service Design Design Strategy
I could talk about all of the above

What is a
User Interface?
UI/UX/SD

User Interface
A human that uses a product or service:
customer, employee, citizen, parent, child
UI/UX/SD

User Interface
A human that uses something
A medium for a user to understand
and control a product or service
UI/UX/SD

Classic diagram by Bill Verplank

Assessment
Thought
Comprehension
UI
Inputs
Outputs
System
Processes
Rules
Attention
Perception
Intention
Cognition
Sensing...

See Hear Touch Smell Taste
Icons from Volodin Anton, hunotika, Deivid Sáenz, Jakob Vogel via the Noun Project

Speed of perception
Amount of information
Interpretation accuracy
Ability to ignore
++
++
+
+
++
+
-
-
+++
+
-
- -
-
+
-
-...

Handles and buttons
Continuous (analogous) and
Discreet (digital)
Inputs

The best interfaces combine
both handles and buttons
eg, Touchscreen, mouse
Bill Verplank

Graphical
User Interface
Allows users to
interact with
electronic systems

Visual Language
Motion Graphics
Information Design
Information Architecture
Interaction Design

Visual language
Motion graphics
Information Design
Information Architecture
Interaction Design
Still relevant

But there’s more to
UI than just GUI
Physical
Telephone
Voice
Embedded
Distributed
Text

I want to talk you through
The future present
The future possible
The future likely
What you can do

What’s going on now?
The future present

We’re still getting to
grips with touchscreens

Touchscreens enable flexibility

We are often blind to their
Weaknesses

We are still addressing the
Input problem of fingers on glass

???
Steve lied
We do need
hard keys

???
Steve lied
We do need
a pointer

Screens replacing
tactile controls

Screens in
front of babies
http://www.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/fisher-price-ipad-apptivity-seat.jpg

What is going on
Beyond the screen?

Tiring
Coarse control
Confusion with natural gestures
Action != intention
Gestural

We’re
attracted to
magic like
magpies

Tech companies
buying hardware
companies + skills

Service
companies
selling hardware

Wearable
excitement
Something other than a
smartphone to design

Even if they make
us look ridiculous

A recipe for connected products?
+ +Physical
Product
Physical/ Digital
Interface
Digital
Services
Connected
product
=

Aesthetic  
Visceral. Visual, sonic, feel. 
Interactive
Behavioural. Distribution of inputs and controls.
Experiential
Ref...

What are the possible futures?
The future possible

How far can this go?
Ex Machina

Most of the time
It’s still UI
Just not GUI

Less visual clutter
Less learning (in theory)
Less conscious interaction
Greater chance of false intention

KISSKeep it Simple Stupid
An overly simplistic business cliche

YMCAYou Must Consider Alternatives
What I always think in response

Simplicity
Misunderstood and overrated

Displaced complexity
System rules
Mental models

Complexity
Inevitable and important

Designers role
Tame complexity for
human + business advantage

Where should we focus?
The future likely

The future is already
here — it's just not very
evenly distributed.
William Gibson, 1993
Cliche
slide

Screen form factors
will evolve

We will see more
immersive interfaces
for niche applications

Escapism or focus?
Gamers and experts?

Physical controls will
augment screens

Integrated
automotive
interface
Texas Instruments 
Immersive Automobile 
Physical controls
designed in concert with
graphi...

We’ll see more
strokable surfaces

Roli
Seaboard
Roli  
Innovative expressive
piano. Keys you can bend.

There will be more
distributed interfaces
Mainly knobs

Distributed controls and displays

One thing is for certain, although we
are entering a digital future,
the Knob is here to stay!
http://knobfeel.tumblr.com/

And keyboards will
still be important

And older interfaces
will survive

How can you better
focus for the future?

Get Physical and Digital
designers together

Connect on shared motivations and values
Calibrate language, practices and timelines
Create together

Beware concept videos
Tell real stories and demonstrate
with working prototypes

The Internet of
Ubiquitous
Computing
Information
Appliance Things is
growing 
Prototype out loud

Shun the shiny
Don’t be a magpie
to the magical

The Future of User Interfaces?

Almost anything can be done physically or
digitally now. Now it’s about choice.
Understanding industrial Design

The Future of User Interfaces?
It’s like today, with
some small differences
— Politer interactions
— Evolved touch, gestur...

Thank you jasonmesut@gmail.com
@jasonmesut
slideshare.net/jasonmesut

Handles and buttons Continuous (analogous)