Easy doesn’t do it: skill and expression in tangible aesthetics

Abstract

In this paper, we articulate the role of movement within a perceptual-motor view of tangible interaction. We argue that the history of human–product interaction design has exhibited an increasing neglect of the intrinsic importance of movement. On one hand, human–product interaction design has shown little appreciation in practice of the centrality of our bodily engagement in the world. This has resulted in technologies that continue to place demands on our cognitive abilities, and deny us the opportunity of building bodily skill. On the other hand, the potential for movement in products to be a meaningful component of our interaction with them has also been ignored. Both of these directions (design for bodily engagement and the expressiveness of product movements) are sketched out, paying particular respect for their potential to impact both interaction aesthetics and usability. We illustrate a number of these ideas with examples.