Sketching a set of multi-touch design principles
Today multi-touch technology is the basis for many new techniques designed to improve
interactions with computers and mobile devices. It seems that multi-touch screen interface
makes the user handling very natural in the sense that there is no need for a manual in how to
interact with the object on the screen.
The aim with this paper is to establish a fundamental set of design principles intended
specifically for large multi-touch interfaces. To reach this goal we have implemented a couple
of sub-goals beforehand:
It was essential that we acquired a good understanding of the current state of the multi-touch
interface and the different implementations that exist today. To make this possible we
constructed a multi-touch display, "Rosie". Knowing how the hardware is produced today will
help us understand the limitations and also the possibilities of the design implementations
today and in the future.
We also needed to devise a sound interaction design process that conveys the modern
designers work. During this design process four methods were implemented that gave us
deeper understanding how to reach the result in this paper (design principles). The methods
are: Qualitative conceptualisation, Qualitative user-testing, Participatory design, and Iterative
prototyping. Doing these methods we gained knowledge through the process and experience
of for example, building, running workshops, doing video-prototypes and etc. Creative design
was very relevant in our design process.
The result in this paper is a foundation for a set of design principles with relevance for multitouch
interfaces and a interesting design process for developing multi-touch applications.