Figure 2. (a) PICO
(b) Topobo.
a
can be used to engage and communicate. Here, we
continue to explore how such motion constructs can
be applied for designing user interfaces, in other
words, if we imagine that the entire world around us
can deform itself in response to our actions, then
what kind of user interface experiences and new productivity tools could become possible?
Agrowing number of projects in interface
design have laid the groundwork for discussion of kinetic design. Some of the
important early exploration has been conducted in the field of Tangible User Interfaces (TUI) [ 4] and ambient user interfaces projects
such as Pinwheels and Ambient Fixtures [ 1]. Within
tangible interfaces, however, the coupling between the
physical and the digital has usually been in one direction only: we can change vital information through
physical handles, but the digital world has no effect on
physical elements of an interface. Adding elements of
kinetic design establishes bi-directional relationships
in TUIs significantly expanding their design and interaction vocabulary.
The kinetic interfaces concept, however, is broader
than the TUI paradigm: our inspiration partially comes
from one of the earliest visions of computer-controlled
kinetic environments suggested by Ivan Sutherland, a
pioneer of interactive 3D computer graphics and virtual
reality. In 1965 he speculated that the ideal, Ultimate
Display would be “ … a room within which the computer can control the existence of matter. A chair displayed in such room would be good enough to sit in.
Handcuffs displayed in such a room would be confining, and a bullet … would be fatal” [ 12]. Although
manipulating matter on the molecular level, which
would be required for such an Ultimate Display, is currently impossible, the Ultimate Display proposes a way
of thinking about KOIs as a new category of display
devices that communicate information through physical shape and motion. In a sense, every instance of
kinetic design discussed here can be considered an early
and crude approximation of the Ultimate Display
applied to a specific application.
Basic Phrases of Motion. In KOIs, motion can be
delineated with physical components that are actuated
in a way that can be detected by and respond to the user.
There are millions of kinds of motion; however, most of
the motions in KOIs can be represented by describing
spatial motion of individual elements of the kinetic
interface. These motions can be perceived not only visu-