Video style.

Here are some links to a visual style we are considering for the info/instructional parts of our videos.

The Cheeky Checkup

Eurotrip – Film Titles

Paper protyping – Twitter in Plain English

Ok, this isn’t really paper prototyping, but it is a ice way of using the concept of paper prototyping to construct a simple explanation of Twitter; the mobile blogging software. The way the script is written and the illustrations keep it simple and to the point making it easy for the viewer to understand.

Check it our here: Twitter in plain English

Jeff Han – A year later

Jeff Han the man who is now fairly well known the world over as the “Minority report guy” Researching out of NMYU in New York Jeff has now started a company Perceptive Pixel where his research project has grown into a distributed product which is very exciting. The concept of bringing a flexible, seamless and intuitive interface to the user is exciting to me, and the Evotar project could take a lot from Jeff Hans research and development of multi touch user interaction.

Here is a link to coverage by TED. This interview was conducted a year after his well known introduction to his research into multi touch technology.

Simplicity sells – things to keep in mind

David Pogue technology collumist for the New York Times speaks about the emergence of user experience and the need for intelligence in design for the user and the increasing amount of “features” we add to our interface technology.

Simplicity Sell – Ted Talks

A new dimention to the touch screen.

When dealing with a graphic rich interface on the iPhone’s relatively small touch screen, it becomes difficult to display large amounts of information while still having the main navigation accessible. Some services that might be set up on your Evotar may have menus, buttons and interactive graphics that take up most of the screen, so trying to access the main navigational system without accidentally touching something else might become an issue.

We have developed the concept of a distance based touch screen system that not only registeres the position of the users finger on the X and Y axis, but registers the position on the Z axis. Using the iPhone’s built in proximity sensor we can measure the distance the users finger is from the screen. This will allow the interface to switch between the navigation and the content of each service by recognizing a hand gesture at a certain distance from the screen. “Vicinity” is an extension of “Multi-Touch” technology and is a small sub concept of Evotar that we think will aid the development of our groups interpretation of what the interface of the future will be like.

Designing for the touch screen

The touch screen is gaining popularity fast, Its far more interactive, intuitive and well lets face it, it’s way cool. So when coming up with the iPhone interface for Evotar, we need to take a far different approach than we’re used to. Especially considering the extra features/limitations that a smaller touch sensitive screen imposes over the conventional screen we are used to designing for.

Wade from the Voltage Creative (Check it out) gives us some tips to keep in mind when designing for the touch screen.

1. Response speed should be of utmost importance. (I know, I know… making response speed a priority is a staple of user interface programmers and designers, but it’s even more important in touch screen world.) The speed and ease with which a human can interact is increased within the touch screen interface environment. Therefore, the interface’s responsiveness must increase as well. If your hardware/software’s response time is slow, you’ll find your user’s aggravation increasing proportionally faster than it would if they were using a less intuitive system, such as a mouse or trackball. (It’s not as if a using a mouse makes us all plodding computer operators, but no matter how seasoned you are with the click-able rodent, it will never come as naturally as reaching out and touching something to interact with it.) So be lightweight.

2. More space comes in at a close second to speed. A cursor is small and a stylus may be even smaller. However, it’s a good idea to design your interface with fat fingers in mind, even if a stylus is expected to be present some of the time. This will increase the overall usability and flexibility of your system. When designing Poptakeout.com (An iPhone/iPod Touch social news aggregator) I made all the buttons 106px by 110px. Considering the Mobile Safari platform is displayed (exclusively, as far as I know) on iPhones and iPod Touches, whose displays pack 160dpi, I ended up with buttons almost 1/2” square: plenty of room for an accurate poke.

3. Intuitiveness of your design also becomes a heightened concern. This is the same situation as number one, in the touch screen environment non-intuitive information architecture will be even more frustrating to your users. When all they have to do to is reach out and touch something, it becomes a larger source of frustration when this simple action does not deliver as expected.

4. Ambidextrous design must come into consideration in the touch screen world. Both lefties and righties will be using your interface, so plan accordingly. Delivering the same experience to all users means either vertically symmetrical navigation or an option to flip your layout. I prefer the former, it will take less development time (in general) and simplifies your interface.

5. Bright background colors or patterns can hide glare and reduce fingerprints. Solid black is the worst possible choice. (I’m looking at you, iPhone)

6. Touch screen interfaces are more suited to information retrieval than data entry.

7. Be aware of screen coverage. Flyout or rollover menus become much less useful. You may want to consider placing navigation at the bottom of your touch screen area, with results/display at the top. (Thanks, Sanj)

8. Problems with eye-finger and eye-stylus parallaxes lend even more credence to the argument for big, fat areas to press with plenty of space between them.

9. Best to worst operations: Point, select > Position, orient (rotate), define path > Enter values > Enter text. So, basically, touch screen interface’s are great for data retrieval, pretty good for data manipulation, and are kinda awful for data entry.

Welcome to Evotar.

As we advance into the future, technology will occupy more and more space in our daily lives. The internet has given us access to a multitude of information, services and media that were once only accessible in a physical space but are now all accessible from our home computers and mobile devices. As we move forward the need to consolidate where and how we access this information will become greater and the question will be begged; What will the interface of the future look like, how will we interact with it, and what will it give us access to?

Evotar is an evolving digital identity modeled in the your image that is used as an interface and a portal to your favourite online services, digital media, educational instutions and social networks. It can be used on a personal computer or mobile device such as the iPhone but the really great thing about Evotar is that it is designed to learn. The core concept behind Evotar is that your digital itentity should not be crafted by the users ideal identity, but should be a highly accurate version of yourself that is crafted by your interactions with it. From your interests, personality and appearance; Evotar gets to know you and then becomes you. The advantage of having a portal to all of these things that knows your personality is that Evotar can provide the most relative information to you based on what it knowas about you. Evotar can not only manage your digital media but it can recommend new media, It can find your favourite products to buy in online stores, tell you which classroom your supposed to be in and then take you to meet the other Evotars within your social network.

The possibilities of what Evotar could be a portal to are endless but the importants feature of Evotar is that no matter how many places Evotar acts as a portal to, All the information is all fed back through a single GUI. It is a way of untangling and consolidating your digital life.

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