The document discusses using interaction as a material in design. It describes interaction as how a space responds to people within it, rather than it just being static. It outlines different zones of interaction from attraction to engagement. It also discusses using sensors to detect movement and gestures to trigger responses from the space. The goal is to design interactions that enhance people's experiences in the space rather than just showing them things.

1. Thirty spokes are united
around the hub of a wheel,
but the usefulness of the
wheel depends on the space
where nothing exists.
I’m an interaction designer. I sometimes work on objects (demos and kiosks mostly) that are
inside some of the spaces you design. So I don’t do what you do. But here’s my hunch: if you
don’t do it now, you probably will do what I do in the future. And even if you don’t do what I
do, designing like an interaction designer will probably yield some new results for you.

2. Materials
We spend a lot of time thinking about all the materials we need to use to craft an experience
for our clients and attendees. And the constraints we work under. When we think of materials,
we think of the wood, fabric, plastic, foamcore, whathaveyou--all the physical components of
the space. But those are only part of the story.

3. This is from CeBit back in March. Six years ago in the film Minority Report, which was set in
some twenty odd years in the future, this was science fiction. Now it is part of the fabric of
the reality we deal with--you deal with--all the time.

4. This is not your
father’s design.
No it’s not. We need new tools to create new experiences like that one. We need a new
material.

5. Interaction as a Material
Dan Saffer, Kicker Studio
And that’s what this talk is about. How to use interaction as a material in your work--and
really, how to think and design like an interaction designer.

6. What is interaction?
Although technology is often involved,
Interaction is not a technology
Not necessarily about “interactives” either
It is a way of designing
Interaction (Design) starts with behavior
you design from the inside-out
In other words, how does your space respond when people are in it? Most spaces are dumb,
silent, unknowing. They are the same at night when the lights are out and no one is there, as
they are when they are swimming with life. Thinking about interaction is how we make our
spaces more responsive.

7. quot;An honest job of design
should flow from the
inside out, not from the
outside in.quot;
Henry Dreyfuss, 1955
So before you think about the other materials, consider the behavior you want to engender
with the space. Start there, not from the outside in!

8. We mold clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness
inside that makes
the vessel useful.
Mitchell Mauk said yesterday that an exhibit is a frame, a backdrop for differentiating the
client’s product. What would happen if we put aside, just for a moment, the backdrop. What if
iy couldn’t use physical structures or carpeting or furniture or fabrics or signs or printed
material. Could you do it?

9. Program
What we’re talking about is program. Not computer program, but the architectural sense of it:
human movement and the building’s use.

10. “Moments that Matter”
Time + Space + Emotion
Halo moments influence others, but pick the
right ones!
“Seredipity, not staging”
Not every moment matters
via IDEO’s Smart Spaces group.

11. INTERACTION = Communication
Mediated by Objects and, yes, Spaces
People to People
One-to-one
One-to-many
Many-to-Many
People to machines
One to one: people. People are often your greatest resource in the space.
One to many: demonstrations. Many-to-many: how do you connect the clients with the
attendees? And, here’s the kicker, how do you connect attendees to each other?

12. Zones of INTERACTION
ATTRACTION
OBSERVATION
ENGAGEMENT
Attraction is where most people stop. “How can we draw them into our space?”
Piazza del Campo. Tower as attractor. Apartments as observation. The ground as
engagement.

13. Zones of INTERACTION
ATTRACTION
OBSERVATION
ENGAGEMENT
Attraction is where most people stop. “How can we draw them into our space?”
Piazza del Campo. Tower as attractor. Apartments as observation. The ground as
engagement.

14. ATTRACTION AFFORDANCE
Microsoft’s surface.

15. SOCIAL interaction
Not just one-way
Culture of Participation
Creating “Social Objects”
People like the swag but they’ll remember
the interaction
They’ll “take with them” the social object
even if they don’t take it with them
Interaction is never just one way. It is a back and forth between two entities. Trends: Citizen
journalism, Web 2.0 social networks and blogs, grassroots politics. How do you connect
attendees in a meaningful way?

16. Doesn’t have to be a high tech solution either...although it can be.

17. Doesn’t have to be a high tech solution either...although it can be.

18. Metaphor as a Way
of Designing
I’m a big fan of metaphor. I find for myself it’s very hard to design anything unless there is
some kind of box or framework around it. And metaphor is one way to do that. Humans are
wired for metaphor, especially for abstract things. Time=Money for instance. It’s how we can
make physical the abstract.

19. Bill Verplank demonstrated how fruitful the right metaphor can be in design concepting and ideation. Cow as
metaphor for the project. Like food passes through a cow’s multi-chambered stomach, the end users experienced
a multi-phase workflow. Some of what the client ingested (data, or “grass”) was converted into profitable output
(actionable findings, the “milk and cream”).

20. SPACE AS AN OBJECT
So let’s try this, and you should try this yourself when it comes time to design your next
space. Think of the space you have to design as an object. I’m a device guy and I sometimes
do the opposite: imagine the object I have to design as space. But for now, imagine your next
space as an object. What does it look it? How does it interact?

21. Snowglobe. I love this as a metaphor for activity within a contained space. It’s beautiful, transparent, alive.

22. I also love this as a metaphor. A small container with layers, possibly many layers. But also space. Space.

23. Doors and windows are cut
to make a room.
It is the empty spaces that
we use.
Now that our space is an object, what can someone do with it? How does it work?

24. Participation
What can I do here?
Not “What can you show me?”
Levels of Interaction from the casual to
the in-depth
Think Vega$, Baby, Vega$!
Vegas has a level of games from nickel slots to high stakes poker. Barrier to entry is very very
low. Should your space be like a Las Vegas casino? Probably not.

25. Adaptive Spaces
Spaces are no longer static (if they ever
really were)
What if the space changed depending on how
it is being used, and by whom?
What data are your attendees generating
that you can use? (Without them filling out
a survey)
The secret sauce: Sensors

26. Types of Common Sensors
Pressure
Light
Proximity
Acoustic
Tilt
Motion
Orientation
Sensors connected to computers allow you to collect data that is otherwise invisible and lost.
With sensors, the invisible can become visible and shared.

27. With sensors, you can completely change a space. Who are my Wii players? The Wii transforms rooms into an
amazing variety of spaces, and the game itself creates a “playing field” around it.

28. PROXIMITY ACTIVATES
Let’s start with the easiest level of entry. When someone enters the space, just a casual
wanderer, what can they interact with? What sensors detect their presence, and how to they
respond to it? Don’t be obnoxious with this.

29. Computers don’t only have to manipulate flat screen displays. Danny Rozin’s Wooden Mirror.

30. Phillips Lighting Glowing Places combines plastic seating with LED strips and pressure
sensors tomeasure the presence of people over time. Both the number of people sitting and
the length of time they stay create lighting effects in the furniture. Many people sitting for
brief periods of time result in more active lighting, whereas one or two people sitting for a
longer period trigger mellow lighting.

31. MOVEMENT ACTIVATES
Once you add in movement, the space can respond in other ways, tracking and recording
pathways through your space.

32. iO’s SensitiveWindow detects the positions and walking directions of passersby to trigger
the appropriate content, such as a full-screen movie created to surprise someone walking left
to right.

33. Fukuda’s Automatic Door adjusts to the shape of the user as she approaches the door.

34. Golan Levin’s quot;Double-Taker (Snout)quot; project.

35. GESTURE ACTIVATES
The more engaged people get in the space, the more you can ask of them to interact. This is
where touchscreens and more interactives come into play. You’ve attracted them in, they
have observed others using it, and you’ve hopefully provided some sort of attraction
affordance. Now people can really dig into what you have to offer.

36. Bathrooms have become the most interactive space in common use today. They are the
interaction design labs of the future, now. What they show us is the amount of lightweight,
easy interactions that can be done with simple gestures.

37. Of course, not restricted to bathrooms. You can turn on a Mthmos Airswitch light by merely
waving your hand slowly over the light. Users can make the light dim or brighten by moving
their hand upward or downward.

38. Larger touchscreens invite this clustering around. The U.S. Library of Congress has a set of
touchscreen exhibits that allow visitors to peruse its historic documents, such as the
Declaration of Independence.

39. WineM. At this level, you can also think about what people carry with them, namely their
mobile phones. You don’t need a specialized device like in this video. You can make good
use of people’s own devices.

40. And you can really get into it with having multiple people playing with an interactive display
all at once. This is a music making device called loopArenaMTC music device by sliding
musical “agents” with your fingertip.

41. The best designs
are those that
“dissolve into
behavior.”
Naoto Fukasawa
Look for those instances when you can add meaning and depth to what people are already
doing. Certainly don’t ruin someone’s experience with an intrusive interactive, but find the
moments you can enhance through connection, through interaction.

42. To make use of what is here,
you must make use of what
is not.
Tao Te Ching
All these quotes have been from the Tao Te Ching. Use the space between your beautiful
walls, among the gorgeous furniture, and under your beautiful lighting. It’s all there for you
to use. You need to activate the space in between by using what it affords to create
meaningful, memorable interactions.

43. Thank you.
http://www.kickerstudio.com
dan@kickerstudio.com
Kicker Studio
http://www.kickerstudio.com