Interface Design is arguably the primary concern for the interactive world these days. If something isn’t designed well and intuitive to use, it won’t get used. Books like The Design of Everyday Things and Designing Interactions are mainstays on my bookshelf and should be considered required reading for all interactive designers. I’ll rarely walk through a door again without examining where the hinges are, where the handle is located and observing whether people struggle to guess whether to push or pull.
Likewise reading about the development of the mouse and “desktop” concept for the computer reveals a lot of knowledge that can be applied to the design of multi-level, dynamic and interactive websites, a simple brochure website DVD interfaces etc. The mouse is a mouse and functions the way that it does for a reason; ’cause it works. Minor tweaks come and go (track balls anyone?) and to be honest I don’t think that the interface environments we have with our computer are going to disappear anytime soon. (with the inroads that the interactive touch screens popularized by the iphone/ipod touch still be to determined).
Having said that we are at the technological point where some viable alternatives have started to appear. One such is displayed on the side of advertising firm Publicis & Hal Riney. Check it out and whatever you do use the webcam if you got one. If you don’t, track down someone who does, it just isn’t the same with the mouse! The interface is a little clumsy, and depends entirely on whether you have a webcam (a sure thing on mac computers of the last few years) but also on the resolution of the web cam. One of the other failings is that there is no tangible or audible response for a “click” and depends entirely on the user being centered on the webcam screen a certain distance from the cam. This combined with the response time makes it a bit of a novelty at this point but some interesting concepts for the future. I’ll be excited to see where interfaces like this are in a few years. Rethinking the mouse always takes me back to Scotty! (via Computerlove via The Design Feed)