work in progress - 2012.01.17 – [text in italic is to be developed]
Design activities embracing our sense of touch are particularly challenging. Multimodal interaction is complex to understand; even more daunting if one plans to act in that design space. Haptics in one of the new design frontier, as we move from GUIs, TUIs and beyond. It is a rich domain of new design challenges: user-centered inquiries, flourishing technological advances, computation and materiality merging.
[Brief history and anatomy of haptic interfaces.]
[A fertile ground at the junction of ID and IxD, for imagining and shaping the future of our interfaces with the world, beyond pixels and displays.]
[A Technological Nature stance: if we are to be surrounded with technological apparatus and processes, they better be in sync with our mind, body, and with the world.]
This thesis investigates how designers venture into haptics and refine their design repertoire of haptic interfaces. The thesis starts by examining design expertness, and more precisely how design representations, activities of prototyping and sketching support design knowledge development. It then delves into haptics with an inquisitive perspective, exposing questions and hypotheses about the nascent activities of designing haptic interfaces. The examination continues with case studies of designers actively engaging in/with haptic undertakings. From my research insights and experience, the thesis introduces a detailed presentation of the design space that I propose to call haptic IxD. The final part of the thesis exposes various design resources, current and forthcoming, for supporting and advancing haptic IxD.
Haptics pertain to the modulation of the relation between us and the world/environment via our sense of touch. At the most basic level, haptics relate to our notion of reality and consciousness. Although these philosophical inquiries are compelling to explore, this thesis pertains to a design approach/context, with a primacy of action and transformation.
My investigation starts by inspecting various bases of design expertise, design representations and supporting activities. I explore how prototyping and sketching activities are crucial processes in/of design. They help bridge the abstract and the physical, explore a design space, and support design moves (Schön).
After reviewing common terms associated with design representations: models, sketches, prototypes and mock-ups, I will present the term’s origin and main interpretations. I will also explore their appropriation and usage by various disciplines. I also take a small detour to explore related terms used in the French language. On the whole, this review aims to understand the nuances and details associated with representational though processes and making activities. A refined vocabulary can improve design expertise.
[Conflicting vectors of development in IxD: a) TUIs, NUIs, and beyond valuing bodily engagement and physical manifestation ⇒ requires material stability; b) a push for dynamism in our interaction, adapting, changing, fit for purpose, dynamic materials, etc. So stability and change are contradictory. Haptic aims are reconciling the two. From an interaction design perspective, these new questions create a very fertile ground for intellectual and practical inquiries.]
The main questions and interrogations driving my inquiries are:
-What are the latest developments at the junction of IxD design, haptics and multimodal interfaces?
-Why is that design space relevant or deserve attention/consideration?
-What are the challenges and difficulties that IxD designers face in designing haptic interfaces?
-What tools, methods and approaches can help designers venturing into haptics?
-How the haptic domain benefits from haptic IxD activities?
[First step to understand the new design space: self-initiated examination. First-person perspective and experience of designing haptic interaction.]
[Multimodal interaction study, non-visual target finding task with audio spatialization + haptic feedback. Outcomes for me: experience designing haptic interface (programming haptic behavior) + study (experiment design), in collaboration with HCI researchers. Evaluation of haptic qualities is difficult to accomplish. Most design moves made from researchers’ informal tryout with the prototype. Stringent requirements by haptic research community focus on the scientific method inquiry more than the qualities of the haptic interface, how it feels to users, etc. Research vs Design.]
[Exploring handheld ungrounded Haptic IxD ⇒ Simple Haptics TEI paper. It provides an opportunity to concretely try out approaches and tools, recognize challenges, frame possibilities, and gather feedback from world-class design researchers.]
[Investigate Kinect + Haptics: design explorations for haptic opportunities with Kinect. Set out to design haptic interfaces, but in the end I had to develop multimodal systems. Integration is technically challenging (more technical aspect to consider) and liberating (illusion and reduced constraints). Sketching with advanced tech is absolutely not trivial. Prototypes vs sketches. Also this journey allowed me to experience the role of design research in a larger research context. How design fits in the world. How it can best contribute, expectations from other disciplines.]
[Second step to grasp the haptic IxD space: Skeching Haptics Workshop series (DeSForM paper). Explore how IxD and CS students tackle haptic interfaces challenges. Skills in making/building are greatly influential. Trying to get the to sketch haptics, not only prototype. It was quite challenging. 5 workshops realized in 2 years. Refinement of various approaches and exercises to learn about haptics, develop prototyping and sketching knowledge. Outcomes: selection of documented design activities, experience + feedback from grad students and design educators.]
Haptics is a new layer of design as the line blurs between digital/material. Designing for haptic modality is uncommon. What defines that space? What are the current challenges? In collaboration with other disciplines, what design has to offer? We can see that IxD projects have more and more physical representations. How physical/material qualities sustain their intangible counterparts, and vice versa?
[Schön’s design moves concept “dialog with design materials”. Biped/two step analogy: design as walker, abstract leg + physical leg, both have to advance for the walker to walk properly. From this perspective, proposal to use the term “hardware sketch”. It encompasses exactly what the design activities are: dialog between abstract and material representations. Abstraction derived from physical phenomenon, physical realizations to comprehend abstract concepts. “Make to Learn, Learn to Make” approach for haptic IxD. Design expertise for haptics revolve around prototyping and sketching. Making hardware sketches as a desirable contribution from designer to the haptic community.]
[Review of current electronic toolkits, to support Sketching Haptics. Current tools and systems, pros and cons, areas for improvement. Main conclusion: toolkits have limited support for simple actuation, building haptic sketches is still very technical demanding, need for an actuation toolkit for Arduino, or a Lego Mindstorms system that is smaller/compact.]
[Collection of material to support designer venturing into haptics: building blocks both mechanical-only and electronic variants, psychophysics 101, touch sense primer, materials, assemblies and mechanisms for haptics, experienceable demos + platforms to kickstart haptic IxD, design guidelines.]
Beyond UIs and TUIs, IxD is returning to materiality. Multiple vectors are pointing to expanded interaction through touch sense: computation + materiality, multimodal interfaces, etc. Towards the democratization of haptic, the designers’ role is crucial to develop richer and meaningful interfaces. Haptics is more than newer technology, it’s a symbiosis between human capabilities and the world, artificial and natural.
[“Make to Learn, Learn to Make” and “Hardware Sketch” contributions. Implication for IxD education and professional practice.]
This thesis explored how the worlds of design and haptics can come together. Sketching in hardware in seen as a key activity to develop haptic IxD. Hardware sketches and sketching activities are the best contributions that designers can provide to the global field of haptics.
