Cooper Journal: Whimsical interaction design

Whimsical interaction design—a follow up

by Noah Guyot on April 6, 2010 | Comments (0)

Last year Dave Cronin wrote this post about whimsical interaction design. In that spirit, I wanted to share our work on the litl webbook.

In my mind there are a couple approaches to incorporating whimsy into interaction design: To bring a little dash of entertainment to a capability that already has to be there (e.g., jiggling icons on the iPhone), or to add something for the pure joy of it (e.g., Easter eggs in software).

In this first example, the whimsical element brings a bit of delight to a moment that could have been upsetting to users.

The Retro Outro

The litl can take the form of a traditional laptop, or be flipped into a easel configuration. This flexibility creates potential confusion because the hinge that enables the flipping has two buttons on opposite ends: One is the power button, the other is a menu/select button. When the litl is flipped between configurations, the relative position of the buttons swap left to right, making it easy to imagine pressing the power button when you intend to press the menu button. So we explored some solutions — a confirmation message, or maybe the double-press required by projectors. Both of these felt too "computer-y" for the litl experience.

When the power button is pressed, the video on the screen begins to compress vertically. If you keep holding the button, the video compresses down to a single dot and the litl turns off, just like older CRT TVs — hence, "retro." If you release the button before the video compresses completely, the video springs back to full screen and the litl stays on. One of the keys to making this work is it's responsiveness. (The litl development team did a great job of tuning the feel.)

The Giggle

The other whimsical detail we added just for the fun if it. If you press both of the buttons on the hinge at the same time, the litl will giggle, as though you've tickled it. It's just a fun element that further emphasizes that the litl is different that other computers and has a personality all it's own.

It can be hard to work whimsy into enterprise applications and tools that people use all day. That extra little bit of entertainment usually comes at the cost of speed and efficiency. But for consumer products it may be worth considering some whimsical solutions to sticky design problems, or just adding some fun surprises. It's a great way to create an atmosphere and experience that becomes a deeper kind of branding.

Playing with iBooks

by Nick Myers

At Cooper, we love to share what we learn in our consulting work. We've published and socialized techniques and tools for doing interaction design in our books, at conferences, and through Cooper U. Recently, Apple released the iBooks Author platform, and a few of us have been giving it a test run. The platform itself has lots of potential. There is much to improve, but the possibilities are interesting and it's too early to critique it too strongly. There's been much talk already about the EULA and whether or not this will disrupt education. It's too early to make that... Continue...

The eye of the brainstorm

by Alan Cooper

In our modern digital environment, all businesses have a great competitive need for creative thinking that far exceeds our industrial forebears. In the quest for an institutional source of creativity, the brainstorming session, where several people meet to have fresh ideas, has emerged as the front runner. Brainstorming can be fun, and some prominent consulting firms have prospered proselytizing this technique, but it has a remarkably thin track record of success. While people think and behave differently when they are in large groups versus when they are alone, I also believe that people behave still differently when they are in... Continue...