Forming interactivity

The current practice used in the design of physical interactive products (such as handheld devices), often suffers from a divide between exploration of form and exploration of interactivity. This can be attributed, in part, to the fact that working prototypes are typically expensive, take a long time to manufacture, and require specialized skills and tools not commonly available in design studios.We have designed a prototyping tool that, we believe, can significantly reduce this divide. The tool allows designers to rapidly create functioning, interactive, physical prototypes early in the design process using a collection of wireless input components (buttons, sliders, etc.) and a sketch of form. The input components communicate with Macromedia Director to enable interactivity.We believe that this tool can improve the design practice by: a) Improving the designer's ability to explore both the form and interactivity of the product early in the design process, b) Improving the designer's ability to detect problems that emerge from the combination of the form and the interactivity, c) Improving users' ability to communicate their ideas, needs, frustrations and desires, and d) Improving the client's understanding of the proposed design, resulting in greater involvement and support for the design.