The surfaces of products are one of the most directly accessed parts of a product by users when they use it.
Interactive products involve more complexity in conceptualizing the characteristics of their surfaces compared to static visual artifacts, as they are more dynamic and responsive to users' action such as clicking buttons or touching screens. This study explores dynamic aspects of surface when using interactive products, particularly with focus on tangible interfaces and user engagement beyond visual aesthetics or usability. We aim to investigate how new types of dynamic design factors would influence affordance, simplicity, and affects in experience with interactive products.

As inital attempts, user studies are being conducted i)to measure different affects with different modes of product surfaces (with four exmaples of alarm clock radio interface) and ii)to evaluate haptic feedbacks in touch-screen interfaces (colloboration with HP human factors team).

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
-How can we separate (define) dynamic aspects of interactive product from its visual and functional asepcts?
-What types of design factors can we think of in terms of dynamic aspects of interactive products?
-How will various dynamic design factors influence visual and functional aspects of interactive products?
-How will those different dynamic design factors influence user response?

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
-Suggest a model of experience of interactive product considering different aspects of its surface
-Explore a design space of dynamic interactive factors (i.e. tactile, mechanical transformation, smart material)
-Investigate influences of new dynamic design factors on visual and functional aspects of interactive products
-Investigate influences of new dynamic design factors on user experience (i.e. engagement, affects)

VARIOUS TYPES of PRODUCT SURFACE

iPod Click Wheel,  LG Chocolate Phone, Logitech diNovo Edge, Optimus-103 Keyboard (from left to right):
Surfaces of interactive products become more diverse and dynamic beyond static buttons and screen interfaces. New types of interactive surfaces have been introduced in forms of touch screen or sophisticated surface with digitally enhanced tangible interfaces. They do not only improve usability but also influence visual forms and experiential qualities of digital products.

MODES of EXPERIENCEING with DYNAMIC SURFACES

CASE STUDY I (measuring affects from different types of product surface which have same features)

We conducted user studies to measure user responses with focus on affection at each mode of experiencing dynamic surfaces of interactive product and to compare any differences among them. For that, we designed four types of alarm clock radio interfaces (A: typical buttons, B: touch buttons, C: sliders, D: rotary knobs) and presented them in different forms such as static images and interactive prototypes to measure different affective qualities at the three modes of experiencing each aspect of a dynamic surface that we suggested ­ i.e. visual (only images), behavioral (interaction with flash prototypes), and functional aspects (perform tasks).

CASE STUDY II (evaluating haptic feedbacks in touch screen interfaces)

This study aims at investigating which combinations of visual, sound and haptic feedbacks are appropriate for specific types of widgets or tasks (Q1). Based on the results of the first study, we plan to explore more specific design issues of which variations of sound and haptic feedback would be more appropriate for given tasks (Q2).

Q1)Which types of combinations are appropriate for certain tasks?
(ex: V-visual only, VA-visual+audio, VH-visual+haptic, VAH-visual+audio+haptic)
Q2)Which variations of sound and haptic feedback would work best for given tasks?
(ex: Sound – soft and strong, Haptic – hard and light, with invariant visual interface)