Report for Design Proposal

DCS3015 Communicating Design Arguments

18th February 2010

Timothy Su Yi Cheng

0806314A

Interactive Media Design

Design plays a major role in socioeconomics. Breakthrough products are released as a result of design

and technology combined, and these products cause a big impact on the economy and in turn, socially

as well.

There is a gap in the market right now for a truly portable “digital canvas” device especially targeted at

digital media artists and designers. There has been no suitable hardware (hence no platform) for a

solution to exist due to shortcomings in touch sensing screens.

Apple is now breaking barriers with the introduction of the iPad. Prior to the iPad, there was no

device in its category that offered or rivalled the quality of hardware in its price range. The iPad can

be said as the first “true” portable touch-input based device in the tablet form factor to hit the personal

computing market.

The iPad’s hardware: a high fidelity, pressure sensing touch screen on a thin and light form factor with

a battery that lasts for a month on standby, makes it a viable device to fill the gap of a “digital canvas”

for digital artists and designers, with the right software.

Background 1

Design problem statement 3

Findings and analysis 5

Conclusion 10

Recommendations 11

References 13

Appendix 1: Reflective essay 14

1.1 Global design issue

One of the sub-themes in the Cumulus conference is socioeconomics and design, and will serve

as the chosen theme for this proposal.

Socioeconomics is a field of study that inspects the relationship between economic changes and

social impacts. A change in the economy, be it slight or major, brings a corresponding impact

socially and vice-versa. A small change in social behaviour might cause a big impact on the

economy as a whole, or a shift in the economy might bring a drastic change socially, affecting

small groups of people to the entire society.

To better explain the idea of socioeconomics, here is an example drawn to illustrate. A large

industrial factory ceasing its operations would cause a minor social impact as a result of an en

masse, albeit small scale, job loss. This could lead to further social implications such as the loss

of homes (mortgages), education, health, et cetera.

As stated in the introduction to conference sub-theme, the role of design now plays a major

part in changing or causing paradigm shifts in the dynamics of socioeconomics. Innovations in

technology and design have helped shape society to how it is today and will continue to cause

impacts as further breakthroughs are made.

As we move towards a human centred approach for design, the advancement of technology

will at the same time be infused with this thinking. This has made the application of design

even more and more relevant in society today and in turn, playing a part in socioeconomics.

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1.2 The role of design in addressing the global design issue

The role design plays in the field of socioeconomics is a big one. For example, a breakthrough

product designed with human centred intentions in mind will cause a significant impact on

socioeconomics. The product might drastically improve quality of life for a select group of

people (automatic guiding systems for wheelchairs, or computerized seeing aids).

Another role design might play in socioeconomics is in terms of cosmetics or aesthetic value.

To draw an example to illustrate this point, let us look at the introduction of hybrid

electric/gasoline vehicles (called hybrids) in early 2000s that sparked a skew of unforeseen

controversies. The Toyota Prius is the top selling hybrid to date and thus makes it the most

viable subject for study from the socioeconomic perspective.

The primary reason behind the idea of hybrids is to solve the problem of diminishing gasoline

supplies, and with the introduction of the Prius, governments globally started encouraging the

adoption of such vehicles such as by offering incentives, tax credits and discounts. From this it

can be said the role of design played was to improve upon standard of living.

As the Prius became more widely adopted, a phenomenon occurred in which the main driving

point of purchase became the design of the vehicle, not the fuel efficiency nor the government

incentives. This created an interesting and unforeseen situation where the primary consumer is

attracted to the vehicle to create a “statement” about him or herself, generating majority of the

Prius’ sales, design being the primary driving force behind the incentive for purchase.

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 2. DESIGN PROBLEM STATEMENT

2.1 Design problem identification

Digital artists are tied down and limited to a computer and a screen to produce artwork,

caused by both hardware and software limitations.

In terms of hardware, digital artists require high performance touch sensitive surfaces to

translate strokes and swipes into a digital reinterpretation. These surfaces need to have a high

density of touch sensors, needs to detect pressure and ideally be of large dimensions. The

solution to this currently is an external device connected to a computer that has a touch and

pressure sensitive surface and is monitored on the screen of the host computer. These devices

have the option of being able to display what is being drawn on the surface itself, but is

prohibitive to the mainstream due to high cost.

There is a large library of software titles that are developed for the very purpose of producing

digital art. However the problem lies with the hardware they are tied to and designed for. The

traditional computer graphical user interface (GUI) is based on a point and click metaphor

with one point of input. As such, software designed for this environment would adopt the same

conventions. Therein lies the crux of the issue. Drawing motions and strokes do not translate

very well to these conventions and are done so in an awkward manner. Users are forced to

select user interface elements that are miniscule that were designed for the precision of a

mouse. In fact, to even begin addressing and correcting these shortcomings for use with

natural human motions, the entire traditional GUI and its user interface conventions and

metaphors would have to be redesigned from ground up.

There has been no real solution in form of a true portable device or tool to enable digital artists

to work wherever they want.

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2.2 Design objective

To create an intuitive solution for digital artists and designers that makes possible to produce

digital artwork or design work on the go, without being restricted to a bulky, hard to transport

hardware.

2.3 Design criteria

The outcome of the hardware should be that it is extremely portable in all aspects (easy to

carry, move, lasts long on battery and not bulky). The touch surface should be of reasonable

size, possess high-density touch sensors and detect pressure. In terms of software, the user

interface should be designed to suit natural human hand motions and gestures.

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 3. FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

3.1 Understanding design principles related to area of study

Relevant design principles that apply to this project can be taken from the study interaction

design. Interaction design is a study on the relationship of interaction between humans and

objects, usually machines or computers.

In abstract, there are 4 primary principles to follow (Ladly, 2004) when designing an interface

of which users will interact with.

Visibility is indication of current status and the current choices for interaction. The more

visible the status and choices are, the more likely users be aware of how to proceed.

Feedback is a response to a user’s action. There should always be a timely and unobtrusive

form of feedback to an action in a well-designed application.

Affordances are the perceived and actual properties of an object that specifies how it can be

used. This gives users a clue about what actions a user might take to use an object.

Mapping refers to the relationship between controls and their effects. Good mapping takes

advantage of natural relationships, often spatial, to reduce the user’s need to think about which

does what every time they want to perform an action.

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3.2 Understanding the design problem at global/national/local/contextual level

There has not been a suitable product in terms of hardware in the market to serve as a viable

digital canvas that is portable for new media artists and designers. A digital canvas requires a

high fidelity sensing surface to accurately digitalize pen or brush strokes as input by the artist.

Products on the market have all failed to accurately capture this data due to lacking

advancements in touch sensing surface technology.

There are existing products on the market right now that attempt to fill this gap. Major

manufacturers of computers have all attempted and released a tablet computer of some sort in

the past ten years, ranging from laptop computers with an inferior touch sensing layer slapped

onto the surface that barely registered input, to hybrid laptops that swivel its screen to

transform into a “tablet” (Epstein, 2007). Microsoft has always advocated and encouraged

release of these tablet computers. Bill Gates, the former CEO of Microsoft, is often quoted

saying the future of personal computing lies in the tablet PC form factor (Clarke, 2010).

These products all use a version of Microsoft Windows operating system for tablet PCs. The

problem with this is that Windows was never designed for touched based input, leading to a

whole lot of interface and interaction quirks and problems the end-user would encounter. As

briefly mentioned in the document earlier under Design Problem Identification, a traditional

GUI of a computer is designed for a point and click metaphor. Windows, and other operating

systems such as Linux and Apple’s Mac OS are all designed around this simple convention.

When such a user interface is adapted for a different way of interaction such as touch-based

input, things never work out the way they should as originally intended. Raising an example,

touch-based input is very much lacks the precision of a mouse for a point and click operation.

Suddenly, the user is forced to aim at a very small area and more often than not, misses. This

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leads to frustration and increasingly lost faith in the user interface and product, which does not

translate to sales at all.

As a result of the absence of a suitable product, the de-facto tools for digital artists now is a

Wacom tablet or similar, plugged into a traditional computer workstation.

Apple recently introduced a device in the tablet form factor, which they called the iPad. The

introduction of the iPad is game changing because it brings to the mass market a portable

tablet with superior touch sensing surface and a high-resolution screen (132ppi) (Apple.com,

2010). The construction of the hardware is also superior, as expected from Apple. It is made

from glass and aluminium, which makes it very thin and light.

Paired with the right software, this would finally enable digital artists to finally free themselves

of a bulky setup of a Wacom tablet and accompanying computer workstation, to paint, sketch

and draw anywhere they want.

Apple also understood that the traditional GUI of a computer would not fare well with the

new device. What Apple did was that they built upon the operating system they already had

for the iPhone, another touch-based device made by them, and adapted it for the iPad. This

works out way better because the entire environment of the interface the user of the device

would experience was designed specifically for its method of input: touch.

As such, software designed for the iPad would then be naturally suitable for touch-based

input. This is because the host operating system it runs on is designed to be so, unlike a

repackaged version of Windows with hybrid input methods.

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 This is a huge opportunity. The iPad has potential to become the ultimate device for producing

digital art.

3.2 Understanding the target audience/user

The intended target user for the product has neither an age range nor gender: any individual

able to operate the iPad should be able to operate the application. It is however targeted

specifically at individuals who are digital artists or digital media designers, who work with

computers primarily to produce artwork and/or design work.

A brief survey was conducted with a sample group derived from Visual Communication

illustration majors. A big majority of the subjects would prefer a device that would enable

them the freedom to produce digital based artwork anywhere. A small number also expressed

frustration with the current input method of drawing on a surface and seeing the change on

another surface, instead of on the surface itself. The majority dismissed it as a concern but

when asked further, they attributed it to them being used to the method of input, which is not

necessary natural.

From this survey, a few observations can be drawn out. Portability is desired amongst digital

artists. The tablet input method is not necessary an issue to seasoned illustrators, however

should a more natural way of illustrating digitally becomes available, it might achieve better

reception especially with amateurs just starting out.

A survey was also conducted on the cost of the device, and how the iPad would fare in

comparison. This is due to the general perception that tablet-based input devices are costly,

especially for a secondary device like a Wacom tablet. The cost of a slightly smaller sized

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 Wacom Intuos4 tablet is $650 in local currency (Amazon.com, 2010), not factoring in the cost

of the computer needed to operate the Wacom tablet. The iPad is very competitively priced at

$700 for the base model.

3.3 Understanding successful applications related to area of study

3.3.1 Primer study 1: Tweetie

Tweetie is an application for the Mac. It is a client to a web service called Twitter. What makes

Tweetie stand out from all the other similar applications available is how it pays attention to

even the smallest of details that enhance the user’s experience when using the application.

Having tried and tested almost all the Twitter clients available, Tweetie remains the one

application in its class that cannot be replaced. In comparison with other applications, very

minute things like readability of text (Twitter is a very text based service so it is extremely

important), how it remembers where you last left off in the update “stream” even if you close

the application, really makes a difference. Tweetie was awarded an Apple Design Award at the

last Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC, 2009).

3.3.2 Primer study 2: Brushes for iPhone

One thing I noticed about this particular application is how it almost has no interface controls

at all present while in use. As the name suggests, Brushes is a painting/sketching application

for the iPhone. It is regarded as the single best application out of the tons of painting

applications available for the iPhone platform and manages to accomplish that with very little.

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 4. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, there is definitely a market for a portable “digital canvas” device. The iPad is extremely

suitable hardware for this purpose and plus it is relatively affordable. Given the right development and

design of the software, there is a huge opportunity for the project to succeed.

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 5. RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Intuitive, easy to use interface that will appeal to artists and designers.

The user interface of the application should stay true to iPad user interface guidelines and

conventions for the sake of consistency and usability. User interface controls should not clutter

up screen when not needed. This is to maximize the amount of screen estate and also to

simulate a real canvas. Toolboxes and other user interface controls should be easy to select by

having a large activation area and clear, concise iconography to represent their function.

5.2 Replicates real brush and pen strokes on a canvas or other medium.

For the application to be considered as a viable tool by professionals, it has to implement as

much realism as possible. As such, the application should achieve and inherit several features

from a real canvas. The input should: simulate pressure based on feedback from the screen

surface, simulate dirt and other texture on a canvas and/or other medium and also provide

wide customization options for the type of brush tips.

5.3 Allow import of external imagery and easy to export or share creations.

It is important for the user to be able to work with a variety of formats and have flexibility

with importing and exporting their artwork. As such, the application should support most file

formats, and also allow import of photos from a camera. It is also important for the application

to export not just bitmap based artwork, but vector, path-based files as well. As such, the

application should have a “vector” mode, similar to Adobe Illustrator’s implementation of the

Blob tool.

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6. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

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 REFERENCES

Ladly, M. (2004). Basic interaction design principles. Retrieved from

http://banffcentre.ca/bnmi/programs/archives/2004/interactive_screen/presentations/ladly_martha.pdf

Epstein, L. (2007, September). The best Tablet pc. Retrieved from

http://www.tabletpc2.com/The_Best_Tablet_PC-%20Article=20071509.htm

Clarke, G. (2010, January 7th). Ghost of gates' tablet haunts microsoft's future. Retrieved from

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/01/07/microsoft_tablet_pc_slate/

Apple.com. (2010). Apple - ipad - technical specifications and accessories. Retrieved from

http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

Amazon.com. (2010). Amazon.com: wacom intuos4 medium pen tablet: electronics. Retrieved from

http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Intuos4-Medium-Pen-Tablet/dp/B001TUYTZW

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APPENDIX 1: REFLECTIONS

1. How has exploring global design issues such as those in the Cumulus Shanghai Conference

2010 sub-themes helped you in understanding the role of a young designer like yourself?

Studying most of the subthemes in depth before settling on one was eye opening and made me

aware of more things that I wasn’t aware of prior to reading and researching on the topics.

Preparing data and research for the writing of this document and presentations was rewarding

as I felt I learnt a lot as a designer.

2. What made you decide to work on a particular sub-theme?

Socioeconomics has always interested me as an individual.

3. What does being a young designer in an urban nation like Singapore mean to you? Of

what significance or meaning do global design issues have to you? What are the challenges

and opportunities?

Singapore is fast moving and fast developing into a modern society, in fact we are further

ahead in a lot of ways compared to others in the world, taking bragging rights for a few

“world’s firsts”. As such there are still rough edges and a lot of rawness especially in the

creative industry as it is at its infancy in Singapore compared to other countries. I look

forward to being part of this industry when I join the workforce eventually and help shape the

design community locally.

4. How has this module helped you in understanding your role as a young designer?

I have learnt tremendously from the module and feel rewarded. The structure of an argument

is very much embedded in my head now, statement, reasons, and evidence.

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