User-Centered Design of Shape-Changing Controls
203 pages. 2019.
Abstract
Shape-changing interfaces bring flexibility in physical interfaces through by transforming computational devices into any shape or materiality. Shape-changing interfaces will be increasingly available to end-users in the future, along with technology development. However, we know little about design criteria of shape-changing interfaces
for end-users, especially for whom use parameter control interfaces. Parameter control interfaces are often designed based on existing examples such as dials and sliders, and there were few studies to understand user needs behind their usage. On the other hand, there are shape-changing interface taxonomies that allow designers to explore design ideas of shape-changing interfaces systematically, but they are hardly evaluated. In this talk, I discuss my Ph.D. work investigating the two areas of HCI: parameter control interfaces and shape-changing interfaces. I first conduct a formative study to suggest design requirements for parameter control interfaces based on users’ current practice. Second, I refine a shape-changing interface taxonomy by evaluating its descriptive power by using everyday reconfigurable objects. Lastly, I look into the intersection of the parameter control interfaces and shape-changing interfaces. I develop two case studies: KnobSlider, a shape-changing interface that can be a knob or a slider, and ExpanDial, a rotational control that extends the interaction
modality through shape-changes.