There's not an app for that : mobile user experience design for life

420 Pages·2015·24.39 MB·English

by  Simon Robinson

THERE’S NOT AN
APP FOR THAT
MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN FOR LIFE
SIMON ROBINSON
GARY MARSDEN
MATT JONES
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON • NEW YORK • OXFORD
PARIS • SAN DIEGO • SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, Simon, 1984-
There’s not an app for that : mobile user experience design for life / Simon Robinson, Gary Marsden, Matt Jones.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-12-416691-2
1. Mobile computing. 2. Application software. 3. Human-computer interaction. I. Marsden, Gary. II. Jones, Matt.
III. Title.
QA76.59.R63 2014
004.01’9–dc23
2014019476
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-12-416691-2
For information on all MK publications
visit our website at www.mkp.com
Printed and bound in China
Dedication
In memory of Gary: thank you for everything
Preface
Apps are changing the world. If you work for a bank, an airline, an art gallery, or even a
local coffee shop, you’ll probably have helped create an app to connect and transact with
your customers and visitors. As users, we consume these bite-sized chunks of digital
goodness voraciously, with some estimates putting total app downloads to date at over
100 billion.
People find apps effective, satisfying, and enjoyable. Meeting their needs, filling dead time,
solving their problems. So, why are we writing a book that argues for some new thinking?
We celebrate the success that is apps, services, and the ecology of mobile devices;
but, we want to ask the question: what do the current approaches to mobile interac-
tion overlook? Is there more to user experience than can be expressed through today’s
heads-down, glass-blunted, and private me-centered reality?
All three of us have had the great fortune to work and collaborate with research labs,
practitioners, and industry. The job this book attempts to do is to connect the great
app innovation out there with the sorts of alternative thinking that have been brewing in
university and industry labs for several years.
What does this additional set of perspectives get you?
n If you are an app developer—either an individual with great ideas (or wanting
them) or working at scale in a bigger team—we hope you will gain three types of
insight. First, there will be inspiration on new types of services that can help users
see and interact with their worlds in exciting ways.
n Second, if you already have an idea, the book may provoke you to think of inter-
esting, effective ways to provide interactions with your service.
n Third, and finally, by surveying emerging interface styles and materials, we’ll
prepare you for the ever more rich opportunities to provide user experiences that
really match the lives we all lead: the best is yet to come!
n You might have picked up this book, though, because you are researcher
or student who is new to the field and wants a fast way into some of the hot
research topics in user experience. We have reviewed a great number of articles
from leading conferences and journals, trying to make this work of world-leading
researchers accessible. We’ve provided full details of all the labs, projects, and
papers we’ve followed so you can take your reading further.
n Perhaps, though, you are neither an app developer nor a researcher. Perhaps
you simply are intrigued by what the present approaches to technology you
use everyday do to your experience of life, and how the future might be differ-
ent. Perhaps you are a worried parent or grandparent, anxious about your digital
native children and grandchildren. We hope we’ve written the book in a way that
connects with your interests too. After all, the changes we are trying to provoke
are meant to make your life better and less worrisome!
This is a book and not a bible. We’ve surely made some errors in thinking through the
complexities as we outline what might be effective evolutions of what is currently called
“mobile.” You may agree with what we’ve written, or can think of much better ways of
looking at the problems. We hope so, as this is hopefully just the start of a conversation
you can continue with your colleagues, students, or even children.
Simon Robinson
Gary Marsden
Matt Jones
Swansea, UK & Cape Town, South Africa
October 2014
xvi Preface
About the Authors
Simon Robinson is a researcher in the Future
Interaction Technology Lab at Swansea University. His
work so far has focused on mobile technologies that
allow people to immerse themselves in the places,
people, and events around them, rather than just in
their mobile devices. His research—much of which
has been part of the thinking behind this book—has
been featured by New Scientist, Gizmodo, CBC
Radio, and other international media venues, and has
also been published in many international academic
conferences and journals. In the past few years his
emphasis has turned toward developing similarly
face-on user experiences for resource- constrained
communities in regions such as South Africa and
India. Simon is an avid rock climber, and loves the
fact that climbing doesn’t need a touch screen to
make you feel full of life.
More at simon.robinson.ac.
Gary Marsden was a professor of computer science
at the University of Cape Town, pioneer and passion-
ate advocate of HCI for development, and community
builder. He became internationally known for his work
in mobile interface design and ICT for development
(ICT4D)—for which he was a recipient of the ACM
SIGCHI’s Social Impact Award in 2007. He went to
great lengths to show how mobile technologies were
revolutionizing how developing countries were advanc-
ing apace. In doing so, he raised the profile of what
developing world actually meant. Gary died suddenly of
a heart attack on December 27, 2013, and is survived
by his wife Gil and his two children, Holly and Jake.
Matt Jones is a professor and Head of Depart-
ment of Computer Science, Swansea University. His
research work focuses on human-centered computing
with particular emphasis on mobile and ubiquitous
computing and resource-constrained communities
in regions such as India and South Africa. His work
in these contexts has been recognized by an IBM
Faculty Award and, in 2014, by a Royal Society
Wolfson Research Merit Award. Matt has had many
active collaborations and interactions with indus-
try, NGO, and governmental stakeholders includ-
ing Microsoft Research, Nokia Research, and IBM
Research. In his spare time he tries to live life face
on with his energetic family, and enjoys nothing more
than an exhilarating early morning cycle ride to the
glorious beaches of the Gower.
More at undofuture.com.
xviii About the Authors
Acknowledgments
So many people have helped us, it’s hard to know where to begin. It’s impossible to list
everyone by name as we’ve been supported by an international community of scholars,
practitioners, and friends. To all of you who have produced the ideas we have drawn on,
debated issues with us, and dreamed about better futures: thank you.
Without the encouragement, critique, and guidance provided by Meg, Heather, Lindsay,
and Punitha at Morgan Kaufmann, and the early reviewers of the text, the book would be
far less useful and usable than we hope it is: thank you.
We’ve worked closely with a number of people in doing the research and development
work reported in parts of the book. So, thank you Rod, John, Steve, Nic, Thomas, Bill,
Edwin, Shikoh, Andrew, Pierre, Jen, Will, Harold, George, Yvonne, Scott, Liam, Emma,
Patrick, Tom, David F., Kristen, Ian, David B., Amit, Nitendra, and Richard.
Then there are all the organizations and companies who have supported and funded our
work over the years; thank you EPSRC, RCUK, NRF, Microsoft Research, IBM Research,
Samsung, Nokia Research, Hasso Plattner Institute, Royal Society, and Orange. We are
also grateful to our universities for the supportive and stimulating environments they
provide.
We are so thankful to our family and close friends who’ve kept us motivated and allowed
us the time to complete this project. Thank you, thank you, then: Jen, who was not only
a major part of much of the work in the book, but was also a great support, too (Simon);
Gil, Jake, and Holly (Gary); and Clare, Sam, Ben, and Rosie (Matt).
Finally, while joyful to see this book emerge, we (Simon and Matt) are profoundly sad
that Gary died before the book was printed. Without Gary we would not have started the
work; it was so hard to finish it without him by our side.
Thank you, Gary.
Photo Credits
Page 3, Figure 1.3 iPad art installation. Image reproduced by permission of Harold
Thimbleby
Page 4, Figure 1.4 “A customer exists [sic] the store while Wozniak watches”
by Anuj Biyani (https://www.flickr.com/photos/anujbiyani/
2278098213). Licensed under CC BY 2.0 (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Page 19, Provoking new The Haptic Lotus. Image used with permission of Janet van der
thinking box Linden (Open University), Maria Oshodi (Extant) and Adam Spiers
(Haunted Pliers).
Page 37, U ncomfortable Breathless (Steve Benford, Chris Greenhalgh, Gabriella Giannachi,
interactions box Brendan Walker, Joe Marshall and Tom Rodden, 2012). Repro-
duced by permission of Brendan Walker.
Page 43, Figure 2.3 Perfect Red (Hiroshi Ishii, Dávid Lakatos, Leonardo Bonanni and
Jean-Baptiste Labrune, 2012). Reproduced by permission of
Leonardo Bonanni.
Page 51, Figure 3.1 MetaCookie+ (Takuji Narumi, Shinya Nishizaka, Takashi Kajinami,
Tomohiro Tanikawa and Michitaka Hirose, 2011). Reproduced by
permission of Takuji Narumi.
Page 75, Expressive touch Soft(n) (Thecla Schiphorst, 2009). Reproduced by permission of
in soft, interactive devices Thecla Schiphorst.
box
Page 77, Putting it into The Fat Thumb (Sebastian Boring, David Ledo, Xiang ‘Anthony’
practice: More than prod or Chen, Nicolai Marquardt, Anthony Tang and Saul Greenberg,
pinch? box 2011). Reproduced by permission of Sebastian Boring.
Page 78, Figure 4.1 iShoogle (Pawel M. Orzechowski, Stefano Padilla, Douglas Atkinson,
Mike J. Chantler, Sharon Baurley, Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze, Penelope
Watkins and Bruna Petreca, 2012). Reproduced by permission of
Pawel M. Orzechowski.
Page 107, Putting it into Flutter (John Williamson and Lorna M. Brown, 2008). Reproduced
practice: Elegantly negoti- by permission of John Williamson.
ated physical and digital
interactions box
Page 118, Figure 6.1 iCon (Kai-Yin Cheng, Rong-Hao Liang, Bing-Yu Chen, Rung-Huei
Laing, and Sy-Yen Kuo 2010). Reproduced by permission of Kai-Yin
Cheng.
Page 121, Figure 6.3 Tokens of Search (Salu Ylirisku, Siân Lindley, Giulio Jacucci, Rich-
ard Banks, Craig Stewart, Abigail Sellen, Richard Harper and Tim
Regan, 2013). Reproduced by permission of Salu Ylirisku.
Page 122, Figure 6.4 UltraHaptics (Tom Carter, Sue Ann Seah, Benjamin Long, Bruce
Drinkwater and Sriram Subramanian, 2013). Reproduced by per-
mission of Tom Carter.
Page 124, Figure 6.6 MimicTile (Yusuke Nakagawa, Akiya Kamimura and Yoichiro Kawa-
guchi, 2012). Reproduced by permission of Akiya Kamimura.
Page 125, Figure 6.7 Tilt Display (Jason Alexander, Andrés Lucero and Sriram Subrama-
nian, 2012). Reproduced by permission of Jason Alexander.
Page 126, Putting it Intimate Mobiles (Fabian Hemmert, Ulrike Gollner, Matthias Löwe,
into practice: Futuristic Anne Wohlauf and Gesche Joost, 2011). Reproduced by permis-
to feasible emotional sion of Fabian Hemmert.
communication box
Page 137, Figure 7.1 BodySpace (Steven Strachan, Roderick Murray-Smith and Sile
O’Modhrain, 2007). Reproduced by permission of Steven Strachan.
Page 146, Figure 8.1 Adapted from “Wearcompevolution” by Glogger (http://
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wearcompevolution.jpg). Li-
censed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Page 147, Figure 8.2 Google Glass, worn by Thad Starner. Reproduced by permission of
Clint Zeagler.
Page 149, Figure 8.3 Ubi Displays (John Hardy, Carl Ellis, Jason Alexander and Nigel
Davies, 2013). Reproduced by permission of John Hardy.
Page 149, Figure 8.4 Babbage Cabbage (Owen Noel Newton Fernando, Adrian David
Cheok, Tim Merritt, Roshan Lalintha Peiris, Charith Lasantha
Fernando, Nimesha Ranasinghe, Inosha Wickrama and Kasun
Karunanayaka, 2009). Reproduced by permission of Owen Noel
Newton Fernando.
Page 163, Figure 9.2 Adapted from “Pebble watch word clock” by JohnnyMrNinja (http:
//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pebble_watch_word_clock_4.p
ng). Licensed under CC BY-SA 1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/lic
enses/by-sa/1.0/).
Page 170, Figure 9.3 Mobile spatial interaction (Peter Froehlich, Lynne Baillie and Rainer
Simon, 2008). Reproduced by permission of Peter Froehlich.
Page 180, The quest for Implanted User Interfaces (Christian Holz, Tovi Grossman, George
cyborgs box Fitzmaurice and Anne Agur, 2012). Reproduced by permission of
Christian Holz.
Page 187, Figure 10.2 (left) Kitchen scene. Image reproduced by by permission of Alex S.
Taylor.
Page 187, Figure 10.2 Digital fridge design. Reproduced by permission of Alexey Dmitriev.
(right)
Page 188, Figure 10.3 The Whereabouts Clock (Abigail Sellen, Rachel Eardley, Shahram
Izadi and Richard Harper, 2006). Reproduced by permission of
Abigail Sellen.
xxii Photo Credits