Touch

Research Prologue

/ Andrew

I’ve been doing some ad-hoc research on gesture/touch based technologies and children. Exploring what is a child’s learning curve for touch based device, their technology expectations and biases, what is the driving factor for playing with specific technologies and what does this means for GUI design, User Experience, programming, development and deployment.

I’ve discussed some of the general findings with various people at the Breaking Development conference with a lot of interest from designers and developers from Intel, Microsoft and a tech guru. The next step is to start compiling and putting some qualitative structure into my finds and sending out via this blog. Posting my findings and thoughts out there is intimidating, but a necessary part in my professional career development and personal growth.

Exciting times.

Drawing with Paper

/ Andrew

Paper is the drawing app by Fifty Three that has been the sketchbook of choice in our household since its release.

What makes Paper unique is that the app does not have the chrome and visible tool sets that are found in most drawing applications for the iPad (or Android tablets).  The idea behind Paper is simple: remove the standard interface elements and all you are left with is canvas, much like placing a sheet of paper in front of you. You are free to draw and create without having to make decisions about the drawing implement, brush sizes or other UI hindrances. The simple UI frees everyone, young and old, tech savvy or not.

My kids enjoy Paper because the app limits tools and choices; there is a single menu system rather than complicated menu trees. This makes the interaction more approachable and intuitive, flattening the learning curve for the user and making it more enjoyable to use.  Some of the quirks in Paper include the “Expressive Ink Engine” that relies on velocity instead of pressure with a real fountain pen and mastering the two finger “Rewind” feature can be frustrating at times.

Paper is not without its shortcomings. Not being able to lock pages does create instances of errant marks or erasing when revisiting drawings. In early usage, my kids deleted an entire sketchbook rather than a single page. Fortunately, Paper has integrated sharing and posting to Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr into the application. The contents of the deleted sketchbook were posted to my Tumblr prior to its digital demise. In Paper, locking pages and sketchbooks is high on the wishlist of Paper users based on comments posted on Fifty Three’s support forum.