A Kiss Is Just a Kiss; A Sigh Is
Just a Deselection: A Review of

Designing Gestural Interfaces

Carla Diana

Smart Design | carla@carladiana.com

For many of us involved in the design of technological products, the idea of creating gestural interfaces has left us feeling like kids in a candy store— staring inside with noses and palms pressed up against the glass, our mouths watering in anticipation for the place to open. Finally, our time has come, and we have reached an era in which a confluence of factors such as widespread broadband, wireless access, and affordable electronics has culminated in our ability to realistically design all those truly interactive things we have wanted to create for so long but could never quite make happen. Products that were once fantasy objects, such as keyless locks, path-mapping sneakers, and weather-predict-ing umbrellas, are now not only within the realm of possibility, but they actually exist.

With new technologies allowing for the implementation of input gestures that were previously impossible, we necessarily begin many projects by exploring uncharted territory. Unlike more traditional disciplines like graphic design or architecture, interaction design lacks a rich history of documented examples or a well-honed process to build upon. Dan Saffer’s Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices is a testament to the fact that tangible, interactive interfaces that move beyond the mouse and keyboard have become an important part of product design. The book provides an interesting, if incomplete, look at how the use of gesture in product design practice has been evolving. A solid primer that covers a host of related topics such as kinesiology, sensors, ergonomics, and physical computing, Designing Gestural Interfaces can provide a healthy jump start to any project in which physical inputs correlate to digital information, as long as one does not rely on it past the early stages of domain research. Though it does provide a good deal of reference material regarding

© 2008 Dan Saffer. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

physical input situations, development processes, and experimental prototyping techniques, it does not explore more complex considerations, such as the synthesis of varied input data or the social and cultural significance of gestural expression.

In his book Saffer caters to the mind-set of the pioneer and helps us embrace our new challenges by providing a vast array of examples. In Chapters 3 and 4, he explores design patterns for touchscreens and interactive surfaces such as “tap to open,” “spin to scroll,” and “flick to nudge,” as well as patterns for free-form activation gestures like “shake,” “wave,” and “point.” These gestures are a more engaging than the nearly motionless mouse click that has been our working constraint for the past decade, and Saffer presents them in an organized and practical way. Though sometimes inconsistent in quality, each entry is refreshingly visual, show-