Thu, Feb 5
Last week’s enquiry:
After the tutorial, I shifted my focus to hardware.
New enquiry:
When users perform the same action（dragging a file into the trash）across different devices, how does hardware design influence body posture, hand movements, and operational paths, and in turn shape user behaviour?
Questions:
-How are the operations we take for granted designed?
-What kinds of gestures have we become accustomed to when interacting with contemporary technologies?
-Which gestures are already shaped by hardware devices?
-How do fingers physically interact with these interface spaces?
Experiment:
I asked different friends to perform the action（dragging a file into the trash）on their own computers, using their habitual way of operating.(The task was to create a new file in the top-left corner of the desktop and move it into the trash.)
I recorded their hand movements while performing this action.
Translating:
I attempted to translate these videos using dots and rectangles in order to capture hand movements.
After analysing the videos, I found that most people primarily use their index finger and middle finger.
Therefore, I used yellow dots to track the position of the index finger and blue dots to track the middle finger.
Rectangles represent the trackpad.
Through this process, I produced the following videos:
– All the videos
– A comparison of hand operations across devices from different brands.
– A comparison between different sizes of the same model.
– A comparison within the same model and the same size.
Outcome:
For the outcome, I plan to create an interactive website (currently, I have only built a very simple prototype).
Users are prompted with the instruction（dragging a file into the trash）
Once the action is completed, the screen will randomly display one of the collected hand-movement videos along with its translated version.
https://www.figma.com/proto/s5J46W04IIGSKrydJvl80P/Untitled?node-id=0-1&t=26CGESxgxdKwgIOX-1
Reflection：
–Our ways of operating are not only personal habits, but are also influenced by hardware design.
–At the beginning, I wanted to express that when we use a computer, we are also carrying out the rules of interface design. However, during the process of organising the material, I realised that everyone’s way of operating is slightly different, such as using one finger or two fingers. Even so, these operations are still influenced by hardware design.
–Outcome and media：The interactive form of the outcome still needs further thinking.
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