An intuitive two-handed gestural interface for computer supported product design

Abstract

More and more researchers emphasize the development of humanising computer interaction, thus bringing us closer to intuitive interfaces. Gestural interface research fits in with these new developments. However, the existing gestural interfaces hardly take advantage of the possibilities gestures offer. They even force the user to learn a new language. We propose a gestural interface for product design that exploits the use of gestures. This interface supports the perceptual-motor skills of the designer and the expressive and creative design process. To develop this task-specific gestural interface we emphasize the importance of explorative experiments to obtain the meaning of gestures used for product design. We show with two experiments that an accurate interpretation of a created product can be made, even when designers are allowed full freedom in their gestures. MOVE ON, a computer supported design application is our first step towards full freedom gestural human-computer interaction. Creating task-specific human-computer interaction using limitless gestures is feasible, although extensive research is necessary and ongoing.