BACKGROUND
At present the digital content is in a permanent state of flux and can be rearranged in multiple possibilities. Additionally the constant technological progress in hard- and software creates new conditions for the presentation of information. This project takes the opportunity to question the way content has been presented, structured, and visualized. It’s aimed to find a new visual and sensitive alternative of retrieving and navigating content. The Process of finding new information should not only to appeal to the user’s cognitive processes but also to create a pleasurable discovering experience.
CONCEPT
This project tries create a new information design & User-Experience-Design based on the history of the wheel as a vehicle to provide very complex information in a very easy and understandable way. It aims to add the sense of touch to this experience, which is a direct reference to the hands-on approach of former paper wheels. The user will be able to select from a range of wheels and to define the order how the information should be retrieved. Each of the wheels features a different set of parameters, which in combination, narrow down the output. All settings are always visible and can be easily changed by the user. This way the user gets a very transparent feeling about the changes and what effects those changes have on the output.
VISUALISATION
A lot of research was done on behalf of the visualisation. It soon focused on the history of paper wheels which used to retrieve information in a very clever way by uncovering certain areas while other areas are covered. The interface design tries to pick up the main ideas and elements of those former wheels and translate them into the digital world of touchscreens and out-of-the-box installations.
Image: Art Deco Horoscope Wheel, Horoscope Sales Co., Minneapolis, MN – featured in “Reinventing the Wheel” by Jessica Helfand, 2002
Image: Leon Barritt and Garrett P. Serviss, The Barritt-Serviss Star and Planet Finder, 1905 – featured in “Reinventing the Wheel” by Jessica Helfand, 2002
Another focus is put on the behaviour of colour and its supporting role in experiencing distances and if something is active or not.
Melanie
Johannes
March 3, 2009 at 8:41 am |
Very interesting. I have also used the concept of the wheel in my work on digital tabletops. It will be useful to combine both ideas. Check my paper “Attribute Gates” http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1449715.1449726 . Someone has put the conference paper on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQrVDtt_8xs.
March 3, 2009 at 9:52 am |
Hi Ahmed, thank you for the links. It looks really interesting and as it seems we are working on the same issue. I tried to download the pdf to learn more about your work but it always referred me to an account login. Unfortunately the youtube movie couldn’t be found, too. Could you send me some other links or entries to this information maybe? It would be great to talk it over with you and your collaborateur as we are trying to progress the Digital Volvelles to an improved 2.0 version. I still strongly believe, that the wheel would be a much better navigation and retrieval tool than any former file in file system. Specially now with the warp progress in interface technology.