“Brave Nui World by Daniel Wigdor and Dennis Wixon is a must read for anyone involved in creating compelling user interfaces using modern technology and who, after testing, say ‘Why didn’t that design work the way it was intended?’ To novices in the field, it will read as a how-to guide. For seasoned designers, it reads like a novel where you suspect the outcome but there is usually a twist in the plot, giving you that extra idea to think again. I genuinely enjoyed it and I am not likely to put it away soon.”―Paul Neervoort, Lead User Experience Design, Philips Design
“A good grounding framework that immediately kindles ideas of how best to use NUI. Based on the developments of the past few decades, it provides solid foundations of NUI and develops these with the use of specific examples.While this isn’t a cookbook, it does provide clear thematic guidance on how to make your NUI experience excel. The book covers basic through to advanced concepts in a very clear way. Good for reference, but even better if you read it cover to cover – you will grow immeasurably.”–Dylan Evans, Principal Usability Consultant, Veluuria
“Interfaces are moving beyond our usual computers and into many facets of our lives. The way we design these interfaces is changing too. Brave NUI World helps highlight the new considerations you will need when designing for NUIs.”–Daniel Naumann, User Experience Designer
“Wigdor and Wixon, both researchers working on the Microsoft Surface project, present this conceptual design guide for creating natural user interfaces (NUI) for next generation computer hardware. Covering technologies such as the Surface and other multi-touch and gestural devices, the authors discuss a variety of interface techniques and problems noting each issue’s compliance with NUI guiding principles and recommending ways in which new development could more closely adhere to the NUI standards. The work includes numerous illustrations and tables.”–Reference and Research Book News
“From a User Experience design perspective, touch and gestural interfaces are relatively new and there is a lot to be learnt. A good book to get your feet wet is Brave NUI World: Designing Natural User Interfaces for Touch and Gesture by Daniel Wigdor, Dennis Wixon…The style is more text-bookish, but this book promises to be a valuable reference guide for those designing for touch and gestures.”—The Great Remix.com
From the Back Cover
Touch and gestural devices have been hailed as next evolutionary step in human-computer interaction. As software companies struggle to catch up with one another in terms of developing the next great touch-based interface, designers are charged with the daunting task of keeping up with the advances in new technology and this new aspect to user experience design.
Product and interaction designers, developers and managers are already well versed in UI design, but touch-based interfaces have added a new level of complexity. They need quick references and real-world examples in order to make informed decisions when designing for these particular interfaces. Brave NUI World is the first practical book for product and interaction developers and designing touch and gesture interfaces. Written by developers of industry-first, multi-touch, multi-user products, this book gives you the necessary tools and information to integrate touch and gesture practices into your daily work, presenting scenarios, problem solving, metaphors, and techniques intended to avoid making mistakes.
About the Author
Daniel Wigdor is an Assistant Professor of computer science at the University of Toronto. Before joining U of T, he worked at Microsoft in nearly a dozen different roles, among them serving as the User Experience Architect of the Microsoft Surface product, and as a cross company expert in the creation of Natural User Interfaces. Before joining Microsoft, he previously conducted research in advanced user interfaces and devices at Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs, and at the Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard University. He is also co-founder of Iota Wireless, a company dedicated to the commercialization of NUI technologies for mobile phones. Daniel’s work has been described in dozens of publications in leading international conferences, journals, and books. His is the recipient of a Wolfond Fellowship and an ACM Best Paper Award.
Dennis Wixon is currently Discipline Lead for Microsoft US BPD. Prior to this role he was the head of research for Microsoft Surface, and has also managed research teams at Microsoft Game Studies, and MSN/Home Products. Before joining Microsoft, Dennis managed the usability team at Digital Equipment Corporation, where a number of important usability methods such as Usability Engineering and Contextual Inquiry were developed. Dennis has been an active member of the user-research community for over 25 years. He co-chaired CHI 2002 served as Vice President for Conferences for ACM SIGCHI. Dennis has co-authored over sixty articles, book chapters and presentations on research methods and theory. He is an adjunct Full Professor in the Human Centered Design and Engineering Department at University of Washington and co-edited with Dr. Judy Ramey the book Field Methods Case Book for Software Design. Dennis holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Clark University.
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