Practical Interaction Design - Essay Example

18). HCI is a tool-rich methodological system that provides practicality to most of the established paradigms of artistic and aesthetic studies involving interaction design in its purest sense. Physical interaction design is based on PID. It focuses more on the PID elements such as ideation and familiarity, encompassing the techniques of voice based and/or tools based conversations. Physical interaction design studies are aimed to address the issues which call for usage of some physical form and material contour.

These are explicit, objective gadgets which can facilitate or mediate an interaction process. A physical interaction designer must be sensitive towards the usefulness or playfulness of the objects whose physical forms can be used to interpret human gestures. For example, students in Carnegie Mellon and Victoria University of Wellington have created gadgets of paper having objective shape, size and appearance. The gadgets have been built in such a way that they can illustrate the amalgamation of technological knowledge and emotional quotient (see Figure – 1).

These gadgets (which are supplied with specialised electronic effectors and receptors) can be programmed to respond towards sound, light, Internet chatting, users’ commands, etc. The responses are expressed as motions. (Baskinger and Gross, 2010) Figure – 1: Designs adaptable with users’ gestures (Baskinger and Gross, 2010, p. 9) Advantages of Physical Interaction Physical interaction design is based on models and gadgets that can respond to the user’s physical gestures. Physical gestures can engage the whole body of the user.

Hence, interactive platforms involving physical gestures can be pleasing and interesting. Physical interaction, when synchronised with biometrics and electronics, can help the designers to innovate intelligent exercising machines for enhanced biomedical/biomechanical usage. (Norman, 2010) If aspectual paradigms of physical interactions are explored, we can take numerous ideas from existing machines and gadgets. These ideas can be interpreted with more stress on interactivity and uniqueness of design.

In 2009, Sobolewska, Smith and Turner partook in a survey-cum-experiment involving a diverse group of students (most of them had undergraduate computing degrees). Each of them was given the task of describing an electronic gadget of his/her choice. In the course of this research, one of the students described a K10D midsized digital SLR as “very solid” (Sobolewska, Smith and Turner, 2009, p. 95), in which all the openings are sealed to protect the gadget from temperature, dust, etc. Importantly, “The camera has a large right hand grip, so it’s easy to hold” (Sobolewska, Smith and Turner, 2009, p. 95). This is how the basic paradigm of physical interaction design evolves: The gadget must be made not only easy but also pleasurable and comfortable to handle.

Figure – 2: The large right hand grip of a K10D digital SLR camera (Adapted from Letsgodigital.org, 2012) Contextually, Baskinger and Gross (2010, p. 9) have illustrated the example of “Hit Me Interactive” lighting device in their research. This model lamp with LED display instantaneously responds to touch and gestures of hands and fingers (Figure – 3). This sort of gadgets can be used to manufacture convenient and high speed signalling systems. Figure – 3: The Hit Me Interactive device that can be used