Timothy Merritt

Method Card Design Dimensions: A Survey of Card-Based Design Tools

There are many examples of cards used to assist or provide structure to the design process, yet there has not been a thorough articulation of the strengths and weaknesses of the various examples. We review eighteen card-based design tools in order to understand how they might benefit designers. The card-based tools are explained in terms of five design dimensions including the intended purpose and scope of use, duration of use, methodology, customization, and formal/material qualities. Our analysis suggests three design patterns or archetypes for existing card-based design method tools and highlights unexplored areas in the design space. The paper concludes with recommendations for the future development of card-based methods for the field of interaction design.

Balancing User and System Control in Shape-Changing Interfaces: a Designerly Exploration

Despite an increasing number of examples of shape-changing interfaces, the relation between users actions and product movements has not gained a great deal of attention, nor been very well articulated. This paper presents a framework articulating the level of control offered to the user over the shape change. The framework considers whether the shape change is: 1) directly controlled by the users explicit interactions; 2) negotiated with the user; 3) indirectly controlled by the users actions; 4) fully controlled by the system. The four types are described through design examples using ReFlex, a shape-changing interface in the form of a smartphone. The paper concludes that shape-changing interfaces tend to assign the control to either the user or the underlying system, while few (e.g. [16,28]) consider sharing the control between the user and the system.

Making things in Fab Labs: a case study on sustainability and co-creation

ABSTRACT Digital fabrication laboratories (such as Fab Labs) are a global initiative of workshops that offer open access to technologies to produce objects from beginning idea to final production. Fab Labs encourage open and free knowledge-sharing among ‘experts’ and the general public. Claims are being made about community-based digital fabrication workshops transforming practices of design, innovation, production and consumption, while describing positive impacts on the environment and social goals. Research that examines such claims is sparse. This paper explores realities of using digital fabrication technologies within a Fab Lab. It draws on a case study that describes practical outcomes of a design workshop in which a multidisciplinary team engaged in issues of sustainable design and processes of co-creation to design and fabricate a prototype. This experience provides insight into the impact of digital fabrication technologies within a sustainable and co-creational design context and critical reflections are presented.

Calming Children When Drawing Blood Using Breath-based Biofeedback

Blood sampling is a common and necessary procedure in the treatment and diagnosis of a variety of diseases. However, it often results in painful and stressful experiences for children. Designed together with domain experts, ChillFish is a breath-controlled biofeedback game technology with bespoke airflow sensor that aims to calm children during blood sampling procedures. An experimental pilot study was conducted in which 20 children aged 6-11 were assigned to one of two conditions involving either passive distraction (watching a video) or active distraction using the ChillFish prototype. Medical staff rated ChillFish significantly more useful in facilitating the blood sampling procedure compared to passive distraction. Qualitative feedback from patients, parents, and medical staff identified aspects that impact the acceptance of breath-based active distraction. Our study highlights the potential of non-pharmacological assistive technology tools to reduce fear and pain for children undergoing painful or stressful medical treatment.

Tangible Lights: In-Air Gestural Control of Home Lighting

While there has been much focus on tangible lighting interfaces embedded in physical objects and smartphones as remote control, there has not been sufficient attention on how the expressivity of bodily movement can be used when designing interactions with light. Therefore, we investigate interaction with lighting technology beyond the smartphone and physical controllers. We examine the usefulness of the in-air gestural interaction style for lighting control. We bring forward Tangible Lights, which serves as a novel interface for in-air interaction with lighting, drawing on existing knowledge from the tangible world. Tangible Lights has been subject to initial evaluations.

Tactile Communication in Extreme Contexts: Exploring the Design Space Through Kiteboarding

This paper uses kiteboarding as an experimental platform to find ways in which technologies could support communication needs in mentally and physically demanding contexts. A kite control bar with embedded sensors and actuators communicates instructions through voice or tactile cues to explore facilitating communication for control guidance. Tactile cues were shown to be productive in changing behavior. Voice, however, communicated planning models and directional guidance better than tactile cues. Still, voice may negatively impact experience. The experiments highlight the need for better ways for communication tools to support mental models.

Grand Challenges in Shape-Changing Interface Research

Shape-changing interfaces have emerged as a new method for interacting with computers, using dynamic changes in a devices physical shape for input and output. With the advances of research into shape-changing interfaces, we see a need to synthesize the main, open research questions. The purpose of this synthesis is to formulate common challenges across the diverse fields engaged in shape-change research, to facilitate progression from single prototypes and individual design explorations to grander scientific goals, and to draw attention to challenges that come with maturity, including those concerning ethics, theory-building, and societal impact. In this article we therefore present 12 grand challenges for research on shape-changing interfaces, derived from a three-day workshop with 25 shape-changing interface experts with backgrounds in design, computer science, human-computer interaction, engineering, robotics, and material science.

GridDrones: A Self-Levitating Physical Voxel Lattice for 3D Surface Deformations

We present GridDrones, a self-levitating programmable matter platform that can be used for representing 2.5D 15 voxel grid relief maps with capabilities of rendering overhangs and 3D spatial transformations. GridDrones consists of 15 cube-shaped nanocopters that can be placed in a volumetric 1xnxn mid-air grid. Grid deformations can be applied interactively to this voxel lattice by first selecting a set of voxels using a 3D wand, then assigning a continuous topological relationship between voxel sets that determines how voxels move in relation to each other, then drawing out selected voxels from the lattice structure. Using this simple technique, it is possible to create overhanging structures that can be translated and oriented freely in 3D. Shape transformations can also be recorded to allow for simple physical shape morphing animations. This work extends previous work on selection and editing techniques for 3D user interfaces.

ProjecTables: Augmented CNC tools for sustainable creative practices

Computer numerical control (CNC) cutting machines have become essential tools for designers and architects enabling rapid prototyping, model building, and production of high-quality components. Designers often cut from new materials, discarding the irregularly shaped remains. We introduce ProjecTables, a visual augmented reality system for interactive packing of model parts onto sheet materials. ProjecTables enables designers to (re)use scrap materials for computer numerical control cutting that would have been previously thrown away, at the same time supporting esthetic choices related to wood grain, avoiding surface blemishes, and other relevant material properties. We conducted evaluations of ProjecTables with design students from Aarhus School of Architecture, demonstrating that participants could quickly and easily place and orient model parts reducing material waste. Contextual interviews and ideation sessions led to a deeper understanding of current work practices and sustainability issues with computer numerical control cutting machines and identified useful features for interactive packing to reduce waste while supporting esthetic concerns for exhibition quality design projects.

CADLens: Haptic Feedback for Navigating in 3D Environments

CADLens is a tangible input device with haptic feedback for navigating three dimensional Computer-Aided Design (CAD) environments. CADLens is intended to provide more intuitive controls with a low barrier of entry for first time or less experienced CAD users. Navigation in the CAD environment is possible through manipulating the physical controller with guidance provided through haptic force feedback. In CAD environments, a common viewport used by designers is the perspective viewport camera - CADLens represents the virtual camera position through its synchronized physical form which the user can move, zoom, and rotate. We conducted a study with 10 users in which participants were asked to complete navigation tasks using a model of a building. Users were able to successfully complete the navigation tasks and through contextual interviews provided feedback for system improvements.