Since the launch of the original Guitar Hero game in 2005, music-based video games have quickly grown in popularity. Recently, music has overtaken sports as the second most popular category for video games. Equally astonishing, according to the Venture Beat blog, these games are now driving adoption of video game consoles more than any other genre.
The sudden growth in popularity of these games has been driven by the evolution of the design of game interactions beyond the traditional game controller. Guitar Hero provided the first interaction breakthrough when they released a controller that is designed to mimic the feel of real guitar. These controllers have been much improved since the first Guitar Hero release. My personal favorite is the Rock Band guitar because it provides the most natural feel and is considerably more accurate from a strumming perspective.
When Rock Band launched in 2007 it also helped push the envelope by supporting four person games and adding interactions via drums and a microphone. Now gamers can create an virtual "rock band", as opposed to being limited to guitars only. For people like me, who always wanted to learn the drums rather than guitar, this was an awesome new feature.
That is not to say that Rock Band is the clear leaders in the market, the battle rages on Guitar Hero. Earlier this year Guitar Hero came out with a new version that not only features a full band set-up but also enables players to compose their own songs that can be shared with others online. For the first time gamers are able to go beyond playing existing songs to create their own masterpieces.
Since the launch of the newest Guitar Hero game, Nintendo has released a music creation platform of its own. The Wii Music game enables players to interact with over 60 virtual instruments. This release, which was launched approximately two months ago, is often referred to as a toy rather than game. The reason being, it is focused on enabling users to play with virtual instruments for pure pleasure and does not feature structured and score-based goals as is common on both Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
The growing popularity of music-based games has also reached mobile platforms such as the Nintendo DS and the iPhone. For the DS platform, two games are currently available: Guitar Hero and Ultimate Band. Both attempt to leverage similar game-play experience to the console games listed above - of course, in a much simplified manner to work on this portable device. The music-based game offerings for the iPhone are quite similar. They include a series of Tap Tap games (which are some of the most popular apps in the app store) and Guitar Rock Tour.
One more interesting thing to point out is the impact that these games are having on the music industry as a whole. According to MSNBC and AP "Aerosmith [has] made more money off the June release of 'Guitar Hero: Aerosmith' than either of its last two albums, according to Kai Huang, co-founder of RedOctane, which first developed 'Guitar Hero... [and] Artists from Nirvana to the Red Hot Chili Peppers have seen sales of their music more than double after being released on the games... The Killers released two new songs on "Guitar Hero" the same time their latest album came out."
Here are some interesting articles about music games that served assource materials for this post:
Showing posts with label touch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label touch. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
The Design of Interactions with Music - Portable Devices
Continuing on the topic of designing interactions with music, here are a some examples of lo-tech hacks and and innovative new designs that enable people to interact with music in cool ways. The consistent thread that runs through all of these examples is that these instruments are all portable but are not mobile devices, such as cell phones and mobile gaming units.
The "Ghetto" Talkbox
In my recent post regarding music interactions on mobile devices I shared an example of a Nintendo DS Lite that had been hacked into a talkbox. Here is a lo-tech way to create a talkbox, taught by Moot BooXLe. Before watching this video I had not clue how musicians play with a talkbox. It's pretty interesting: the talk box has a long tube that is placed in the musicians mouth, it is also hooked up to another instrument (usually a keyboard). Therefore, the musician modulates the music that is played from the instruments by talking or blowing air into the tube.
All you need to create your own "ghetto" talkbox is a plastic tube, a PVC end cap, a cheap powered speaker, a box, and some duct tape. Add to this one to two hours of labor and you've got yourself a talk box. It's pretty cool how you interact with the talk box.
Lo-Tech Drums
I know that this is an extremely lo-tech solution; it is by far the most lo-tech feature on this post. All that said, I think it is worth sharing because, though it uses no electronic components, it is a well designed little system. Notice how even though the drummer only interacts directly with the books while the sounds are created as a result of the interaction between the books and the other objects placed on top of the books as well.
Beat Blocks
This is the first electronic music interface from the bunch. Beat blocks is a physical computing interface that enables users to control four different 4/4 loops. Each loop contains a drum track that can be modified on-the-fly by placing or removing blocks of wood into one of 16 different slots that are arranged in a 4/4 formation on a square plank of wood. There are several different types of block. Each block features from 1 to 4 stripes; each stripe denotes the existence and timing of a beat. The pattern of each loop is determined by the presence of these blocks on the 4 consecutive slots that make up that loop.
What I like about this interface is the way it integrates virtual attributes into physical objects. However, this system has limited capabilities and my interest in it is more related to its experimental nature. Most interfaces that use today to interact with music software on computers is derived from physical equipment (guitar, mixers, etc). That is not to say that a different interaction paradigm that is enabled by technology cannot be created. Hence the importance of experimenting beyond our accepted modes of interactions.
Beat Bearing Demo
This interface offers a similar mode of interaction to the beat blocks via a prototype that has a considerably better finished and some improvements. This tool supports interaction based on a physical computing interface that enables users to control four different 8 beat loops. Each loop contains a drum track that can be modified on-the-fly by placing or removing metal bearings into one of 32 slots that are arranged in a 4/8 formation on a rectangular plastic casing. Each row of 8 slots represents one 8-beat loop, while each slot on this casing represents a single beat.
The one-to-one relationship between bearing/slot/beat makes this interface easier to understand and use than beat blocks. It also provides the user with greater freedom to manipulate sounds. The one area where the beat blocks outperforms beat bearing is in regards to the length of the loop itself - beat blocks supports four 16-beat loops, as opposed to four 8-beat loops. Similar to beat blocks, the beat bearing interface is a mere prototype that is not commercially available (unlike the Tenori ON, which I will discuss next).
Tenori-on
The Tenori-on is a unique electronic music instrument designed by Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori. This device was originally created in 2005 but it was only released in 2007 after Toshio Iwai held live performances in clubs in several European cities. In his own words, here is the inspiration behind this creation:
"In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had to fit the player almost organically. [...] Modern electronic instruments don't have this inevitable relationship between the shape, the sound, and the player. What I have done is to try to bring back these [...] elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age." [taken from wikipedia]
It is a pretty powerful tool, check out the video below of a Hot Chip cover performed with a Tenori-on. This device is consists of a screen that features a 16x16 grid of LED switches. Each switch is multi-purpose and can be activated in various ways to create music. The device also has a frame that contains a small LED monitor, two built-in speakers located and a dial and buttons that control other functionality such as the type of sound and beats per minute produced.
Drum Buddy Demo
The Drum Buddy is an analog-chic electronic instrument that, unlike the three previous examples, is obviously not a digital device. This instrument was invented by an eccentric artist from New Orleans named Quintron. The Drum Buddy has an innovative design that is described as a light-activated oscillating drum machine.
Here is my attempt at describing how it works: light, which is emitted by a light bulb mounted on the device, is captured by photo-sensors that activate oscillators, which generate sounds. These oscillators can be turned on and off, and controlled via switches. They can also be modulated by controlling the presence and amount of light. Check out the video below to see it in action, or check out the wikipedia entry.
This instrument is for true musicians (or very wealthy music lovers). There are extremely few of these in existence though they are still being produced in small batches. They occasionally go on sale on ebay with a $5000 starting bid. During my investigation about this instrument I came across an interesting quote from Quintron about why he created this analog electronic instrument:
"I believe that the digital revolution has cut short the development of new analog electronic instruments - this is a mistake. Analog instruments are presently regarded as charming primitive antiques. Though the DRUM BUDDY and its older analog siblings can create far fewer "types" of sounds than a contemporary digital sampling keyboard, if you analyzed the waveforms of both you would find the DRUM BUDDY sounds to be in a constant state of subtle fluctuation, whereas the digital sounds - since they are really composed of little uniform building blocks - will be rigid and unchanging unless some parameter on the instrument is changed. The analog sounds of the DRUM BUDDY, however, are constantly changing themselves - shimmering with a living complexity which even the 24 bit digital signal could never truly possess." [from Drum Budy site]
The "Ghetto" Talkbox
In my recent post regarding music interactions on mobile devices I shared an example of a Nintendo DS Lite that had been hacked into a talkbox. Here is a lo-tech way to create a talkbox, taught by Moot BooXLe. Before watching this video I had not clue how musicians play with a talkbox. It's pretty interesting: the talk box has a long tube that is placed in the musicians mouth, it is also hooked up to another instrument (usually a keyboard). Therefore, the musician modulates the music that is played from the instruments by talking or blowing air into the tube.
All you need to create your own "ghetto" talkbox is a plastic tube, a PVC end cap, a cheap powered speaker, a box, and some duct tape. Add to this one to two hours of labor and you've got yourself a talk box. It's pretty cool how you interact with the talk box.
Lo-Tech Drums
I know that this is an extremely lo-tech solution; it is by far the most lo-tech feature on this post. All that said, I think it is worth sharing because, though it uses no electronic components, it is a well designed little system. Notice how even though the drummer only interacts directly with the books while the sounds are created as a result of the interaction between the books and the other objects placed on top of the books as well.
Beat Blocks
This is the first electronic music interface from the bunch. Beat blocks is a physical computing interface that enables users to control four different 4/4 loops. Each loop contains a drum track that can be modified on-the-fly by placing or removing blocks of wood into one of 16 different slots that are arranged in a 4/4 formation on a square plank of wood. There are several different types of block. Each block features from 1 to 4 stripes; each stripe denotes the existence and timing of a beat. The pattern of each loop is determined by the presence of these blocks on the 4 consecutive slots that make up that loop.
What I like about this interface is the way it integrates virtual attributes into physical objects. However, this system has limited capabilities and my interest in it is more related to its experimental nature. Most interfaces that use today to interact with music software on computers is derived from physical equipment (guitar, mixers, etc). That is not to say that a different interaction paradigm that is enabled by technology cannot be created. Hence the importance of experimenting beyond our accepted modes of interactions.
Beat Bearing Demo
This interface offers a similar mode of interaction to the beat blocks via a prototype that has a considerably better finished and some improvements. This tool supports interaction based on a physical computing interface that enables users to control four different 8 beat loops. Each loop contains a drum track that can be modified on-the-fly by placing or removing metal bearings into one of 32 slots that are arranged in a 4/8 formation on a rectangular plastic casing. Each row of 8 slots represents one 8-beat loop, while each slot on this casing represents a single beat.
The one-to-one relationship between bearing/slot/beat makes this interface easier to understand and use than beat blocks. It also provides the user with greater freedom to manipulate sounds. The one area where the beat blocks outperforms beat bearing is in regards to the length of the loop itself - beat blocks supports four 16-beat loops, as opposed to four 8-beat loops. Similar to beat blocks, the beat bearing interface is a mere prototype that is not commercially available (unlike the Tenori ON, which I will discuss next).
Tenori-on
The Tenori-on is a unique electronic music instrument designed by Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori. This device was originally created in 2005 but it was only released in 2007 after Toshio Iwai held live performances in clubs in several European cities. In his own words, here is the inspiration behind this creation:
"In days gone by, a musical instrument had to have a beauty, of shape as well as of sound, and had to fit the player almost organically. [...] Modern electronic instruments don't have this inevitable relationship between the shape, the sound, and the player. What I have done is to try to bring back these [...] elements and build them in to a true musical instrument for the digital age." [taken from wikipedia]
It is a pretty powerful tool, check out the video below of a Hot Chip cover performed with a Tenori-on. This device is consists of a screen that features a 16x16 grid of LED switches. Each switch is multi-purpose and can be activated in various ways to create music. The device also has a frame that contains a small LED monitor, two built-in speakers located and a dial and buttons that control other functionality such as the type of sound and beats per minute produced.
Drum Buddy Demo
The Drum Buddy is an analog-chic electronic instrument that, unlike the three previous examples, is obviously not a digital device. This instrument was invented by an eccentric artist from New Orleans named Quintron. The Drum Buddy has an innovative design that is described as a light-activated oscillating drum machine.
Here is my attempt at describing how it works: light, which is emitted by a light bulb mounted on the device, is captured by photo-sensors that activate oscillators, which generate sounds. These oscillators can be turned on and off, and controlled via switches. They can also be modulated by controlling the presence and amount of light. Check out the video below to see it in action, or check out the wikipedia entry.
This instrument is for true musicians (or very wealthy music lovers). There are extremely few of these in existence though they are still being produced in small batches. They occasionally go on sale on ebay with a $5000 starting bid. During my investigation about this instrument I came across an interesting quote from Quintron about why he created this analog electronic instrument:
"I believe that the digital revolution has cut short the development of new analog electronic instruments - this is a mistake. Analog instruments are presently regarded as charming primitive antiques. Though the DRUM BUDDY and its older analog siblings can create far fewer "types" of sounds than a contemporary digital sampling keyboard, if you analyzed the waveforms of both you would find the DRUM BUDDY sounds to be in a constant state of subtle fluctuation, whereas the digital sounds - since they are really composed of little uniform building blocks - will be rigid and unchanging unless some parameter on the instrument is changed. The analog sounds of the DRUM BUDDY, however, are constantly changing themselves - shimmering with a living complexity which even the 24 bit digital signal could never truly possess." [from Drum Budy site]
The Design of Interaction with Music for Mobile Devices
Lately a large number of music applications have become available for portable phones and mobile gaming system. A large number of music-related applications have been released for these devices - including software for music listening, playing, producing and sequencing. These offerings range from virtual pianos, guitars, drums, harmonicas, sequencers and many other instruments to innovative interfaces that allow inexperienced users (or professionals) to create music in new ways.
iPhone Music Applications
As would be expected, most of the music-related applications for the iPhone provide listening or informational functionality. There are some pretty interesting applications in these genres (Pandora and Shazam being two of my favorites), however, the focus of this post is on mobile applications that enable users to create music, both directly and indirectly. So here are a few of my favorites:
BeatMaker
This is an example of applications that mimics existing music instruments. This one provides access to a drum machine and a sequencer. It has a pretty cool interfaces that works well for the most part. They've done a good job at integrating the sequencer and drum machine on to this small touchscreen interface. This application provides a decent set of features, some highlights include ability to loop sounds, to record and playback tracks, and to add new sounds for the drums. The drum is really easy to use featuring large virtual drum pads (the sequencer is a little less user friendly).
Priced at almost $20, this application is definitely not for everyone. It is easy to use considering the the functionality it offers. However, it is more complex than more abstract applications such as Ocarina or Bloom. You do not need experience with drum sets or sequencers to play with beatmaker - I had pretty close to none.
Pro Remote
This is the most high-end example of music interaction application on the iPhone. One distinction about this application is that it does not create music, it is a remote control for Pro-Tools running on a Mac. Nonetheless, it is quite impressive. The video below only shows one small feature of this application. Check out this other video, which highlights some other interfaces provided by this application.
Smule Ocarina
This is an example of a simpler but in some ways more innovative music interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Ocarina is an application that turns your iPhone into an wind instrument whose output can be broadcast to a worldwide network of users. The instrument itself is pretty interesting. You create sound by blowing on to the microphone, and you control it by using four different virtual buttons on the touchscreen display. The application is simple, designed to allow inexperienced to quickly and easily make sounds. That said I quickly grew bored of it.
The networking feature is pretty cool. You can broadcast your music continuously on to the network (even when you are logged off). You can also listen to the broadcast of others via a pretty cool interface that shows the location where the broadcast originates and includes a visual representation of the music - some element of this visual representation can even be customized by the person who makes the song.
Bloom
This application provides another example of a simple and innovative interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Similar to Ocarina, this app was designed to be easy to learn and fun to use for people who are not musicians. Created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, this music instrument enables users to produce melodies simply by touching different parts of the touchscreen. The melodies progress in a loop-like fashion and they slowly melt away and disappear after 30 seconds or so. The instrument will also start playing when left idle for over 40 seconds or so. You can choose from a nine different moods to change the sound of the harmonies. Personally, I prefer this app to Ocarina - though it also grew old pretty quickly.
RJDJ Album
Unlike the other applications featured on this list, this one is primarily used for music consumption rather than creation, which is not to say that it does not create music. The concept behind this RJDJ application is that it generates music on-the-fly using live sounds that are captured in real time mashed up with pre-recorded elements. The live sounds surface in the music as samples, and influence the progression of other elements in the song (if you can call it that).
Based on RJDJ's website they are promoting a musical genre called "reactive", where the sounds that people hear are produced that very moment by digital devices. This is definitely a genre in its infance (I had the music world that will see further development as more artists experience in this
Nintendo DS
KORG DS-10 (w/ optional Straw TalkBox)
The iPhone (and other cell phones) are not the only mobile devices that have more advanced and innovative music applications. A few months ago Nintendo released an emulator for Korg's DS-10 synthesizer. This application turns a Nintendo DS into a mini Korg DS-10. Check out this video - it is definitely more advanced than anything I've seen for the iPhone.
Since I don't own a Nintendo DS-2 - I only have an iPhone - I wonder when an app like this will come out on the iPhone? Is it just a question of time? to what extent does the low-average prices of iPhone apps inhibit the release of software of this complexity?
Another cool thing about Korg DS-10 app on the Nintendo DS is that a hacker in Japan has created a simple way to turn this device into a talkbox, using a simple straw. Check out the video below, just beware because it is in Japanese.
For Nintendo DS there are also a number of open source homebrew music applications - here is 24 examples courtesy of synthopia. Most of these applications are for more experienced users (unlike Ocarina and Bloom on the iPhone). Most of them are designed to provide advanced features and to run these apps users have to learn how to install homebrew software on their Nintendo DS. This requires a higher level technical know-how that tends to be limited to heavier user of the device.
[some content sourced via PSFK]
iPhone Music Applications
As would be expected, most of the music-related applications for the iPhone provide listening or informational functionality. There are some pretty interesting applications in these genres (Pandora and Shazam being two of my favorites), however, the focus of this post is on mobile applications that enable users to create music, both directly and indirectly. So here are a few of my favorites:
BeatMaker
This is an example of applications that mimics existing music instruments. This one provides access to a drum machine and a sequencer. It has a pretty cool interfaces that works well for the most part. They've done a good job at integrating the sequencer and drum machine on to this small touchscreen interface. This application provides a decent set of features, some highlights include ability to loop sounds, to record and playback tracks, and to add new sounds for the drums. The drum is really easy to use featuring large virtual drum pads (the sequencer is a little less user friendly).
Priced at almost $20, this application is definitely not for everyone. It is easy to use considering the the functionality it offers. However, it is more complex than more abstract applications such as Ocarina or Bloom. You do not need experience with drum sets or sequencers to play with beatmaker - I had pretty close to none.
Pro Remote
This is the most high-end example of music interaction application on the iPhone. One distinction about this application is that it does not create music, it is a remote control for Pro-Tools running on a Mac. Nonetheless, it is quite impressive. The video below only shows one small feature of this application. Check out this other video, which highlights some other interfaces provided by this application.
Smule Ocarina
This is an example of a simpler but in some ways more innovative music interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Ocarina is an application that turns your iPhone into an wind instrument whose output can be broadcast to a worldwide network of users. The instrument itself is pretty interesting. You create sound by blowing on to the microphone, and you control it by using four different virtual buttons on the touchscreen display. The application is simple, designed to allow inexperienced to quickly and easily make sounds. That said I quickly grew bored of it.
The networking feature is pretty cool. You can broadcast your music continuously on to the network (even when you are logged off). You can also listen to the broadcast of others via a pretty cool interface that shows the location where the broadcast originates and includes a visual representation of the music - some element of this visual representation can even be customized by the person who makes the song.
Bloom
This application provides another example of a simple and innovative interface designed specifically for the iPhone. Similar to Ocarina, this app was designed to be easy to learn and fun to use for people who are not musicians. Created by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers, this music instrument enables users to produce melodies simply by touching different parts of the touchscreen. The melodies progress in a loop-like fashion and they slowly melt away and disappear after 30 seconds or so. The instrument will also start playing when left idle for over 40 seconds or so. You can choose from a nine different moods to change the sound of the harmonies. Personally, I prefer this app to Ocarina - though it also grew old pretty quickly.
RJDJ Album
Unlike the other applications featured on this list, this one is primarily used for music consumption rather than creation, which is not to say that it does not create music. The concept behind this RJDJ application is that it generates music on-the-fly using live sounds that are captured in real time mashed up with pre-recorded elements. The live sounds surface in the music as samples, and influence the progression of other elements in the song (if you can call it that).
Based on RJDJ's website they are promoting a musical genre called "reactive", where the sounds that people hear are produced that very moment by digital devices. This is definitely a genre in its infance (I had the music world that will see further development as more artists experience in this
Nintendo DS
KORG DS-10 (w/ optional Straw TalkBox)
The iPhone (and other cell phones) are not the only mobile devices that have more advanced and innovative music applications. A few months ago Nintendo released an emulator for Korg's DS-10 synthesizer. This application turns a Nintendo DS into a mini Korg DS-10. Check out this video - it is definitely more advanced than anything I've seen for the iPhone.
Since I don't own a Nintendo DS-2 - I only have an iPhone - I wonder when an app like this will come out on the iPhone? Is it just a question of time? to what extent does the low-average prices of iPhone apps inhibit the release of software of this complexity?
Another cool thing about Korg DS-10 app on the Nintendo DS is that a hacker in Japan has created a simple way to turn this device into a talkbox, using a simple straw. Check out the video below, just beware because it is in Japanese.
For Nintendo DS there are also a number of open source homebrew music applications - here is 24 examples courtesy of synthopia. Most of these applications are for more experienced users (unlike Ocarina and Bloom on the iPhone). Most of them are designed to provide advanced features and to run these apps users have to learn how to install homebrew software on their Nintendo DS. This requires a higher level technical know-how that tends to be limited to heavier user of the device.
[some content sourced via PSFK]
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Designing Interactions with Music
In late October I wrote a post about an article on Wired that noted how the iPhone, Wii and Guitar Hero helped bring to physical computing computing interfaces into the mainstream. My first prolonged experience with such an interface was through the DJ software Final Scratch that was release back in 2004. Through this experience I learned a lot about the meaning embodied through physical objects that support and guide our interactions with them. I also become present to the difficulties of trying to digitize your life (especially before there were millions of MP3 music sites online).
Sidenote: Music is one area where physical computing interafaces have been adopted earlier than in the mainstream. Over the next couple of weeks I will explore some interesting designs for interaction with music. However, now back to my own experience with digital DJing.
At the time that I started using Final Scratch I was a DJ who relied mostly on vinyl records, backed up by a small collection of CDs and an effects unit and sampler. I had reached the point where it was hard to organize of all my music, especially since my place was overflowing with records. I decided that digitizing my expansive electronic music collection was the best way to organize my music and make it findable; not to mention that this solution was going to address the space issue that would soon become exacerbated by the fact that I was moving in with my girlfriend, who is now my wife.
Final Scratch was designed to enable DJs to use vinyl records on any turntable to control the tempo and pitch of MP3 files playing from the computer, and it also supported the use of almost any 2 channel mixer as an output device. This hardware/software application enabled DJs to interact with music files on the computer by using the same physical instruments and gestures that they use when mixing vinyl records. Best of all it allowed DJs to carry a much larger amount of music and easily switch back and forth between tracks from the computer and vinyl records.Though this type of interface does afford a lot of new possibilities to DJs, is also lacks some of the attributes embodied in vinyl DJing. First of all it took a few years before the reaction speed of the software was able to accurately mimic the feel of vinyl. Currently Serato Scratch Live is considered the market leader mainly due to their system's natural feel.
Next, the surface of records have natural, and sometime artificial, visible markers that serve as visual cues for DJs. Modern DJ applications have evolved to enable the DJ to add markers to visual displays of a track's soundwave to mimic this capability.
Lastly, the physical location of the record in your record bag/stack and the look and tactile feel of the cover had meaning that enabled you to easily locate tracks. It is harder to find tracks on a list where each entry lacks unique visual or tactile features. Now finding a record requires either text-based searches or a well thoughout playlist-based organization.
All pros and cons aside I decided to make the conversion. The next step in my grand plan was to digitize a large selection of records so that I could: (a) have the music available on FinalScratch on my computer; (b) sell the records on ebay to make sure that me and my wife could fit into our new 1-bedroom rental. It took me about a thousand hours over the span of a year and a quarter to digitize one thousand records. This experience helped me understand the amount of work it takes to convert analogue media into digital data (I can only imagine the costs of digitizing records for large older companies).
There were two main challenges that considerably lengthened the process. The first is caused by a physical feature of analogue media - it can only be recorded in real time. The second is due to the nature of digital media - music files are not searcheable, therefore, to make them easy to find you need to leverage metadata to properly categorize the files using some type of taxonomy (which, of course, I had to create on the fly).
Monday, December 8, 2008
Touchscreen Design Insights from UIQ Technology
I really like SlideShare. Since I've started my curriculum, I've found numerous interesting presentations regarding interaction and experience design here. That said, this post is not about SlideShare (though that could be an interesting topic). The topic of inquiry is a great primer on the design of touchscreen interfaces for mobile devices that I came across on SlideShare. It provides insightful design tips along with an overview of the current state of the technology. It was written by UIQ Design, a Swedish firm that has a mobile design practice.
Here is a summary of the takeaways that were of special interest to me:
UIQ Presentation on Touchscreen Design
[via TouchUsability]
Here is a summary of the takeaways that were of special interest to me:
- Overview of the two dominant styles of touchscreen interaction: "double tap" and "drill down". The first style works by requiring two "taps" to initiate an action. The first "tap" on an object puts it in focus, then a second "tap" on the object itself, or an options menu, is provides access to a set of available actions (think tablet PCs). On the other hand, the "drill down" style requires that user tap objects only once to immediately access all available actions (think iPhone).
- Insights regarding how design principles associated to traditional mobile device interfaces need to be adapted to support finger-based touchscreen interactions. (1) The need to provide quick and short interactions can best be satisfied by offering direct access to applications and data (think one-click access on iPhone); (2) To deliver an experience that is easy to use and learn, objects, and the actions they afford, should be made obvious; Lastly, (3) designers need to address the challenge of the small screen while needing to support large hit areas that support finger touches.
- Description of two most common touchscreen technologies on portable devices: Resistive and Capacitive. The former is a technology that is used on the screen of palms and other devices that rely on a stylus for interaction. The benefits provided by these screens include costs coupled with their support for handwriting recognition technologies. Capacitive technology is better suited for finger-touch based devices. It is highly durable and can support multi-touch interfaces. (Some details in this area are definitely lost by the absence of the talking notes).
- Impact of screen resolution and size on the design of mobile applications. Two common approaches are used by designers to design interfaces that work across devices with different specs: "design by pixels" and "design by size". The names are pretty self-explanatory - the first is exemplified by when designers create interfaces that are always fully viewable on the screen of the device. Unfortunately, this often causes fonts to become unreadable on smaller devices. The other approach, "design by size", is where the icons and objects in the interface do not change size regardless of device size. In smaller devices the user is always able to read the fonts, though he may often have to scroll in order to access all options. The suggestion from UIQ is for designers to leverage a mix of both of these approaches.
UIQ Presentation on Touchscreen Design
[via TouchUsability]
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Gesture and Touch Based Interface: G-Speak from Oblong
Check out this new gesture- and touch-based interface that was developed by Oblong technologies. I came across this video on the Interaction Design Blog - as they rightfully state, this is the closest thing I've seen to the interface from Minority Report. The demo itself is pretty awesome. It showcases several cool features from this system, here is a quick overview of these elements:
Three-dimensional navigation that enables users to access content via an interface that can organize data within a three-dimensional environment. This enables users to "directly manipulate" data objects and quickly access to information. This is achieved because users are able to leverage their familiarity with physical space to navigate this virtual world.
This is not to say that users can just rely on their physical-world metaphors to successfully engage with this system. After all, computer-based metaphors always have an aspect of "magic" because the physical actions we carry out have meaning beyond their direct physical impact. Therefore, users will need to learn how to use their hands to pull, turn, push, select and act on objects within this virtual space.
Integration of physical and virtual spaces to enable users to interact seamlessly across multiple computers and screens within a given environment. This is a really cool feature that can enable an user to easily move files between computers and other devices, such as mobile phones. Better yet, users are still be able to manipulate the files using the same interface across any of the connect devices. Compare this to Microsoft's surface which enables users to drag a file on the screen so that it is added to a mobile device. However, in order to handle the file once it is on the mobile device, then the user needs to leverage the mobile-device specific interface.
One additional aspect of this physical-virtual integration is that it allows users to change the physical configuration of the system in order to impact the virtual configuration. This is illustrated in the video when the user rotates the "screen table". The data being displayed on the table rotates along with the physical movement of the table, except for the pointer which is being manipulated by the user. This pointer does not move because the users hold his hand stable to hold the pointer in place. Sounds like a small simple element but it adds a lot of possibilities to the interactions that can be supported by this system.
Collaborative interaction is enabled by the system's multi-user support. Therefore, several users can work simultaneously with the system. It is not clear whether different users can work on different types of tasks simultaneously within the same environment. One additional questions is if multi-task support is provided then what are the requirements and how would the behavior of the system change in order to support this type of usage.
The data interaction and visualization opportunities provided by systems of this type will likely enable humans to interact with increasingly complex and large data sets. I would love to see this system in action first hand. Until that is possible I will have to be content with this vide. Hope you enjoy it as well.
[via Interaction Design Blog]
Three-dimensional navigation that enables users to access content via an interface that can organize data within a three-dimensional environment. This enables users to "directly manipulate" data objects and quickly access to information. This is achieved because users are able to leverage their familiarity with physical space to navigate this virtual world.
This is not to say that users can just rely on their physical-world metaphors to successfully engage with this system. After all, computer-based metaphors always have an aspect of "magic" because the physical actions we carry out have meaning beyond their direct physical impact. Therefore, users will need to learn how to use their hands to pull, turn, push, select and act on objects within this virtual space.
Integration of physical and virtual spaces to enable users to interact seamlessly across multiple computers and screens within a given environment. This is a really cool feature that can enable an user to easily move files between computers and other devices, such as mobile phones. Better yet, users are still be able to manipulate the files using the same interface across any of the connect devices. Compare this to Microsoft's surface which enables users to drag a file on the screen so that it is added to a mobile device. However, in order to handle the file once it is on the mobile device, then the user needs to leverage the mobile-device specific interface.
One additional aspect of this physical-virtual integration is that it allows users to change the physical configuration of the system in order to impact the virtual configuration. This is illustrated in the video when the user rotates the "screen table". The data being displayed on the table rotates along with the physical movement of the table, except for the pointer which is being manipulated by the user. This pointer does not move because the users hold his hand stable to hold the pointer in place. Sounds like a small simple element but it adds a lot of possibilities to the interactions that can be supported by this system.
Collaborative interaction is enabled by the system's multi-user support. Therefore, several users can work simultaneously with the system. It is not clear whether different users can work on different types of tasks simultaneously within the same environment. One additional questions is if multi-task support is provided then what are the requirements and how would the behavior of the system change in order to support this type of usage.
The data interaction and visualization opportunities provided by systems of this type will likely enable humans to interact with increasingly complex and large data sets. I would love to see this system in action first hand. Until that is possible I will have to be content with this vide. Hope you enjoy it as well.
[via Interaction Design Blog]
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Interaction Design Basics: Presentations from Bill DeRouchey
Since I kicked off my interaction and experience design curriculum a few months ago I've been following Bill DeRouchey's blog, which is aptly titled push.click.touch. Unfortunately, shortly after I started following his blog Bill stopped posting, his last contribution taking place on August 28th.
Earlier today I checked out his site to take a look at some of his older posts to find out if he had any older nuggets of wisdom to impart - this is in opposition to my usual practice of remaining on my side of an RSS reader. I was happy to find several presentations that Bill has developed for conferences on the topic of Interaction Design. Here is a quick overview of three presentations that I found very informative (if you are already an interaction design pro you probably won't find these very interesting. That said, they are great for novices like me).
In his presentation, Language of Interaction Design Bill provides an overview of basic interaction design concepts. In this presentaiton Bill makes a strong case regarding the fact that a language of interaction design already exists. By "language" Bill refers to the fact that people have already learned to attach specific meaning to colors, shapes, etc. Therefore, designers need to take these language into account when designing interactions. For example, designers should use green to signify a start button and red to signify a stop button.
Another interesting presentation created by Bill is entitled History of the Button. Here, Bill provides a high-level overview of how buttons evolved from late 1800's when Kodak first put a button on a camera to today when the button is a virtual area that is defined by the content on a computer screen - "clicking" a button has evolved to "touching" a surface. Soon the button will be the environment as we start seeing more gesture-based interfaces. To wrap up the presentation Bill reminds us how all of these "buttons" will need to be designed.
Earlier today I checked out his site to take a look at some of his older posts to find out if he had any older nuggets of wisdom to impart - this is in opposition to my usual practice of remaining on my side of an RSS reader. I was happy to find several presentations that Bill has developed for conferences on the topic of Interaction Design. Here is a quick overview of three presentations that I found very informative (if you are already an interaction design pro you probably won't find these very interesting. That said, they are great for novices like me).
In his presentation, Language of Interaction Design Bill provides an overview of basic interaction design concepts. In this presentaiton Bill makes a strong case regarding the fact that a language of interaction design already exists. By "language" Bill refers to the fact that people have already learned to attach specific meaning to colors, shapes, etc. Therefore, designers need to take these language into account when designing interactions. For example, designers should use green to signify a start button and red to signify a stop button.
Another interesting presentation created by Bill is entitled History of the Button. Here, Bill provides a high-level overview of how buttons evolved from late 1800's when Kodak first put a button on a camera to today when the button is a virtual area that is defined by the content on a computer screen - "clicking" a button has evolved to "touching" a surface. Soon the button will be the environment as we start seeing more gesture-based interfaces. To wrap up the presentation Bill reminds us how all of these "buttons" will need to be designed.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Interactive Foil - Making Touch Displays out of LCD's and Projectors
In the spirit of continuing my investigation into the world of touch interfaces, check out this innovation from Visual Planet (I found out about this invention through interaction design blog). They are releasing an "interactive foil" that can be coupled with a standard LCD or projection display from 30 to 116 inches to deliver touchscreen functionality. Check out the video below of a prototype in action. If the cost is sufficiently low this will further drive the proliferation of touchscreens in public places - in doing so it will open up new opportunities and challenges for interaction designers.
As this technology increasingly becomes more available, it will be interesting to see how people respond to the appearance of touchscreen devices in different places. How will the type of interactions that people are willing to engage in differ based on their context. For example, people will feel comfortable engaging in some types of interactions in the privacy of a back of taxi that they would not be willing to do in a more public place, such as a bus stop.
As an inexperienced and technology-loving designer I have to always remind myself that I have a higher comfort-level with technology-based interactions than most others (my wife can attest to this). This is part of the reason that I have chosen to pursue this curriculum in interaction design - to help unleash the power of computation to enhance our experience of the world and improve quality of life.
As this technology increasingly becomes more available, it will be interesting to see how people respond to the appearance of touchscreen devices in different places. How will the type of interactions that people are willing to engage in differ based on their context. For example, people will feel comfortable engaging in some types of interactions in the privacy of a back of taxi that they would not be willing to do in a more public place, such as a bus stop.
As an inexperienced and technology-loving designer I have to always remind myself that I have a higher comfort-level with technology-based interactions than most others (my wife can attest to this). This is part of the reason that I have chosen to pursue this curriculum in interaction design - to help unleash the power of computation to enhance our experience of the world and improve quality of life.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
MacBook Touch Ad on YouTube (Fake)
I came across this video on YouTube earlier this evening when reading an article form ZDNet regarding the multi-touch war between Apple and Microsoft. The article itself is pretty interesting, it focuses on the maturation of touchscreen technologies that can sense multiple touches at once. Here is a link to the story.
Now back to the YouTube video, the original topic of my post. This video features a fake promotional advertisement for a "MacBook Touch" - an Apple version of a Tablet PC. Though this video is obviously a hoax I actually really like this person's vision for an Apple touchscreen laptop computer. Now I hope that this video and article point to the emminent release of an Apple tablet PC soon.
Now back to the YouTube video, the original topic of my post. This video features a fake promotional advertisement for a "MacBook Touch" - an Apple version of a Tablet PC. Though this video is obviously a hoax I actually really like this person's vision for an Apple touchscreen laptop computer. Now I hope that this video and article point to the emminent release of an Apple tablet PC soon.
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