DInKs, Digital Interactive Keys, which re-conceptualizes the traditional QWERTY keyboard style interaction as input and output using tangible digital devices along with a larger display device. DInKs are a creativity support tool that is made familiar by providing keyboard-like input. However, the user experience is changed to include interactive content on the keys and composition as physical movement of the keys. Since the Keys of DInKs are programmable, the possible applications for creative composition are unlimited, for example, DInKs can be programmed for the creative composition of elements that include letters, words, images, shapes, and sounds.
My contribution to this project has been to design the interface for the mobile app and the interaction model for the TUIs as a UX designer.
DInKs is a design which integrates cubes and a tablet into a joint cube-tablet design. Cubes and tablet designs each have affordances, but they are not necessarily additive. We explored the integration of these affordances by first defining how they pertain to cubes and tablet, in terms of user actions and system actions:
Cubes affordances pertain to: user actions on cubes (e.g., Shake) and resulting cube system actions (e.g., cubes display changes).
Tablet affordances pertain to user actions on the tablet display (e.g., drag and drop) and resulting tablet system actions (e.g., a display object moves).
The DINKS platform offers two main contributions to interaction design for creative composition: (1) separate interaction spaces for both the composition and its elements and (2) flexible keys that can represent various elements of the composition.
Pattern Maker, a geometry pattern creator, is a prototype application that designed for the DInKs platform. A geometry pattern consists of an arrangement of shapes of different colors, and scales. The user makes a design pattern by arranging the components. The tablet displays the shapes’ composition in progress while the cubes support exploration with the components of the composition in a larger, three-dimensional space. Each cube displays a single shape, color, and scale. A shape can be changed on a cube by applying different shape, color and scale.
In developing an interaction model for Pattern Maker, we studied tangible interaction design using the DINKS platform for a user experience with physical actions on shapes to generate creative compositions. For example we can pour the contents of one cube onto another cube by moving the cubes near each other and tilting one cube. The content of the cubes defines the context of this generic action so the meaning matches the real world when the content is solid, liquid, or a number. Changing the size of the object on a tablet is done by typing a number into a dialogue box or by dragging a corner of the shape. For the cubes, we have made this a multiplication operation and the action is to place a shape cube and a number cube next to each other.
Potential creative composition applications that demonstrate the generality of the DINKS platform:
Compositions of shapes: Pattern Maker is a prototype application that demonstrates how the DINKS platform can support building new shapes. Example tasks include: designing a composite shape from prescribed elemental shapes, composing mazes, creating graph structures, and designing floor plans or buildings.
Compositions of words: Silly Poems is a prototype application that demonstrates how the DINKS platform can support writing limericks. Going beyond limericks, DINKS can support creative writing when the elements are words, for example composing poetry, writing stories, composing phrases to describe illustrations, word combination games.
Compositions of sounds: When using the “keys” to represent individual sounds or notes, DINKS can be a platform for music or sound composition. On the cubes, users can explore the different representations of a musical note, such as the sound of the note, name of the note, and symbolic musical notation of the note.