Deep-dive: Gestural Interaction Research

You may know that the University of Kansas now has an interaction design program. This semester, Little Springs Design is working with a student group from that program to explore the question, "what gestures are natural?" We're wanting to better understand gestures beyond tap, pinch, flick, shake.

Today was the launch meeting. I got some thought-provoking interaction design conversation, right here in Lawrence. I think the most important things I got out of the discussion are:

1. Speech and gesture are both methods of communication, inseparable from language and thought.
2. Buttons (including keyboard and mouse) and tapping communicate an extremely small amount of information (x, y, and 1).
3. Speech and gestures naturally communicate far more.
4. Design for speech and gestures should communicate more, not just replicate taps or button presses.

We also all have some reading. The one I'm looking forward to the most is Gesture and Thought, which looks pretty deep and thought-provoking. I also ordered Hearing Gesture: How Our Hands Help Us Think which may be more important.