If one question has been bothering interaction designers in our socially distanced, amply sanitized world, it is this: How do we design interactive experiences so that they don’t require touch? As businesses began to reopen, we witnessed plenty of stopgap measures like QR codes, gloves, and styluses. Some of these tactics were clever, but most were more about mitigating risk than improving the user experience.
At Bluecadet, we want to go a step further, asking: How do we design interactive experiences that are story-rich, accessible to all, and also touchless? If touch-free interactions are here to stay, it’s our job as designers to build them in a way that feels holistic, purposeful, and meant to last. We are taking this as a chance to learn, grow, and innovate.
Our R&D team wanted to explore a touch-free paradigm that felt creative and adaptable. That led us to gestures. What is more purposeful and timeless than a friendly wave? As it turns out, gestures are already a familiar form of touchless interaction. We usually think of a thumbs up or a nod of the head as something that something that happens between people, rather than between a user and a piece of technology, but why?
Could we build intuitive touchless experiences around gesture? Only one way to find out: Some friendly debates, remote brainstorms, and building demos. Here’s a taste of what we have come up with to date…