We have a new white paper that identifies Interactive User Experience, or IUX as the next frontier in human-computer interaction. IUX combines three types of interactivity, which in turn exploit unique platform capabilities such as direction, touch, orientation, location, movement and proximity. The transition from user interface (UI) to IUX is as revolutionary as the transition from command-line console to GUI three decades ago. The paper explains IUX, the three types of interactivity that enable IUX, and presents examples based on Apple’s iPhone, the pioneer and by far the most successful IUX device.
The Apple iPad is bringing in a new kind of user experience to our lives in front of computers. Just like computers reinvented themselves from a command-line-based console interface to a window-based graphical user interface (GUI) three decades ago, they will now have to reinvent themselves from graphical user interface to what I call, the Interactive User Experience (IUX) or First-person User Experience.
My earlier post introduced the concept as a user experience that puts the user firmly in control of the context of interaction in addition to the object of interaction. It is rooted in three principles that are coming of age in 2010:
Touch, which throws keyboard and mouse out of the window (pun intended!)
Orientation, which makes the “being” of the device itself a medium of input and
Location, which introduces a new dimension to interaction.
The IUX will come in the form of wearable devices (or close-to-wearable devices like the iPad/iPhone) that will provide the user with a very immersive experience. The video below from TED might be a bit old now, but it is worth revisiting as a good demonstration of what it will all eventually look like.
You could visualize this as progressively reducing distance between computers and humans, and the coming decade will bring the computer even closer to us. For now, let’s see what the app developers have in store for this new device.
What are the trends that are defining the technology world? What is impacting the user interface, design, development and delivery of software? This blog explores the state of technology and the goings on at Harbinger Systems.
