I'm writing a book! Designing the Tangible Interface

Tangible Interfaces References

Contents

• Tangible Product Inspiration
• Fidget Toys
• Books
  • Game
  • UX Design
  • Design & Interaction
  • Physical Computing & Tangible Interfaces
  • Book Lists
• Essays & Articles
  • TEI Cited Papers
• Design Process
• Accessibility & Inclusive Design
  • Figma Plugins for Accessibility
• Physical / Digital Prototyping Tools
• Circuit Diagram Software
• Conferences
• Organizations
• Interesting Designers & Makers
• College Programs

This is a semi-coherent list interesting or useful references found during research.

Tangible Product Inspiration

• scottbez1/smartknob: Haptic input knob with software-defined endstops and virtual detents
• Detent Polymagnet pair - 12 position (30 degree) - #6 CTSK - 1” D-shape
• MaTouch ESP32-S3 RotaryIPS-Display1.28” GC9A01
• T-Encoder Pro [US]
• Love My Switches – Knobs
• UrbanCircles/igor on GitHub
• MaTouch SmartKnob (Assembled)
• Getting Familiar With Round Displays (Hackaday)
• Unusual Round Displays and How to Use Them
• Focus Dial: A Digital Distraction Blocker (Instructables)
• Ring Rotary Encoder
• T-Track Knobs & Bolts
• ANO Directional Navigation and Scroll Wheel Rotary Encoder
• AnySkin: Plug-and-play Skin Sensing for Robotic Touch
• Connect old school joystick to Arduino
• Gliss: Modular Synth Touch Control
• Tembo – A New Musical Instrument for Playful Music Making
• Herzlich Labs MAXIMA Touch Controller First Play
• MMI Node - 0hp / 1U - Touch controller
• GB Remote Lite - Open Source VESC remote
• Consumer Devices – Ambient Devices
• VICINO by MCQN Ltd on Tindie
• ESPConnect: Manage your ESP32 from your browser
• ESPConnect Demo (YouTube)
• knobless computer numpad with big knob and slide modules
• Nubia Focus 2 Ultra’s rotating camera ring makes you feel like a pro photographer
• “Knob Feel” Rating stereo knobs just the knobs
• iPod click wheel button hardware design
• Vintage phone design examples
• How did the PONG game work before software existed? Genius level work
• How the 80’s Nintendo Duck Hunt light gun worked - The Slow Mo Guys

Fidget Toys

• Fidgets on Printables.com
• Fidgets on Printables.com – Contest
• Fidgets on Cults3d.com
• Fidgets on Thingiverse.com
• Fidgets on Thangs.com
• Fidgets on Makerworld.com
• Fidget Cock n Pull (Makerworld)
• Darshan Patel on Instagram: “7 Satisfying 3D-Printed Fidget Toys You’ve Never Seen!
• Fidgets on YouTube
• Fidgets on YouTube 2
• Snappy Switch Keychain
• Magnet flipper / Super Swivel Fidgets

Books

Game

• Game Feel: A Game Designer’s Guide to Virtual Sensation by Steve Swink, 2008

UX Design

• The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman, 2013 (Revised and Expanded Edition)
• Don’t Make Me Think, A Common Sense Approach to Web (and Mobile) Usability by Steve Krug, 2014
• Validating Product Ideas Through Lean User Research by Tomer Sharon, 2016
• Web Form Design by Luke Wroblewski, 2008

Design & Interaction

• Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge (2006)
• Designing the Internet of Things by Adrian McEwen, Hakim Cassimally (2013)
• A Touch of Code: Interactive Installations and Experiences by Robert Klanten, Sven Ehmann, Verena Hanschke (2011)
• Understanding Industrial Design: Principles for UX and Interaction Design by Simon King, Kuen Chang (2016)
• Tactics of Interfacing: Encoding Affect in Art and Technology by Ksenia Fedorova (2020)
• Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices by Dan Saffer (2009)
• How to Speak Machine: Computational Thinking for the Rest of Us by John Maeda (2019)
• Prototyping for Designers by Kathryn McElroy (O’Reilly)
• Designing for Emerging Technologies ed. Jonathan Follett (2014)
• The Handbook of Human-Machine Interaction ed. Guy A. Boy (2011)

Physical Computing & Tangible Interfaces

• Tangible User Interfaces: Past, Present and Future Directions by Orit Shaer and Eva Hornecker, 2010
• Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical by Tom Igoe and Dan O’Sullivan, 2004
• Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design by Mike Kuniavsky, 2010
• Haptic Interaction Design for Everyday Interfaces by Karon E MacLean, 2008
• Playful Wearables by Oğuz Buruk, Ella Dagan, Katherine Isbister, Elena Márquez Segura and Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, 2024
• Making Things Talk: Using Sensors, Networks, and Arduino by Tom Igoe (2011)
• When Things Start to Think by Neil Gershenfeld (1999)
• Make: Electronics (Learning by Discovery) by Charles Platt (2008, 3rd ed. 2021)
• Programming Interactivity: A Designer’s Guide to Processing, Arduino, and OpenFrameworks by Joshua Noble (2009)
• Getting Started with Arduino by Massimo Banzi (2008)
• Getting Started in Electronics by Forrest M. Mims III (1983)
• Electronic Sensor Circuits & Projects by Forrest M. Mims III
• Handmade Electronic Music: The Art of Hardware Hacking by Nicolas Collins
• Make: More Electronics by Charles Platt (2009)
• Encyclopedia of Electronic Components Volume 1 by Charles Platt (2012)
• Practical Electronics for Inventors by Paul Scherz, Simon Monk (2016, 4th edition)
• Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop by Neil Gershenfeld

Book Lists

• NYU ITP Physical Computing Books
• Goodreads Physical Computing Shelf

Essays & Articles

• The Most Satisfying Checkbox
• 3 Kinds of Simplicity (UX Matters)
• Usability of Coffee
• Haptic UX — The Design Guide for Building Touch Experiences by Justin Baker, 2019
• The Parallel Journey of Physical Product Design and UX/UI Design
• What is User Experience (UX) Design?
• The power of Physical User Experience Design (PUXD)
• Breaking Down the UX of Everyday Things: Lessons from Physical Product Design
• The Tactile Side of UX: Designing for Physical Interfaces and Tangible User Experiences
• Let’s Get Physical
• Designing for Both Physical and Digital User Experiences
• The hardware interaction designer: an overlooked role
• Tactile Controls In A Digital World
• Explaining the Internet of Things
• Teaching Emerging Technologies to UX Designers

TEI Cited Papers

• Tangible Bits (most cited paper in ACM) — ACM link
• Tangible interaction = form + computing
• Radical Clashes
• Beyond distributed representation: embodied cognition design supporting socio-sensorimotor couplings
• Turning Back to Planet Earth: Defining the Aesthetics of a New Sustainable High-Tech
• Texturing the “material turn” in interaction design
• Seven Principles to Design for Embodied Sensemaking
• Are tangibles more fun?: comparing children’s enjoyment and engagement using physical, graphical and tangible user interfaces
• Reactable
• reacTIVision: a computer-vision framework for table-based tangible interaction
• Web-based PCB layout from JacDac

Design Process

There are LOTS of diagrams to convey some intangible ideas and best practices of design.

• UX Design Processes
• figma Design-Process—Double-Diamond
• The Double Diamond (Design Council)
• The Design Squiggle

Accessibility & Inclusive Design

• Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Principles
• W3C: Designing for accessibility
• Detailed criteria: W3C’s WCAG 2.2 (quick reference)
• Focus management: Microsoft – A11y - Focus Order
• Text resizing plugin: Text Resizer - Accessibility Checker

Figma Plugins for Accessibility

• Color contrast & vision simulator: Stark – Contrast & Accessibility Checker
• Accessibility annotation: Introduction to design annotation
• Duque Systems – axe for Designers: A Free Accessibility Plugin
• eBay – Include—Accessibility Annotations
• Indeed – A11y Annotation Kit
• Intopia – accessibility annotation kit

Physical / Digital Prototyping Tools

• Automotive UI Prototyping with Real Car Data
• FigProxy (IDEO)
• Microflow

Circuit Diagram Software

• cirkit circuit diagram maker website
• fritzing circuit diagram maker software

Conferences

• Sketching in Hardware conference
• TEI – ACM International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction

Organizations

• Open Hardware Association
  • Bluesky / YouTube Playlist / Discord
• Fab Foundation — global Fab Lab network
  • Lab solutions and resources
  • Find a Fab Lab
• MIT Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA)
  • CBA GitLab
  • Devices Lab, Lancaster University — Microbit-based work: Classroom Cloudlet: a mobile, tangible, and transparent approach to Internet of Things education; MakeDevice: Evolving Devices Beyond the Prototype with Jacdac

Interesting Designers & Makers

• George Cave / Interaction Magic and github
• Keemate Studio
• FredsCave – Micro:bit Modules
• ThingM
• MCQN Ltd (Wrote Designing the Internet of Things)

College Programs

• NYU ITP Physical Computing
• Pratt Institute Interactive Arts (Digital Arts MFA)
  • Pratt Continuing Ed – Interdisciplinary Technology Lab
• Carnegie Mellon University - IDeATe Physical Computing Minor
• Parsons School of Design – BFA Design & Technology
• NY School of Visual Arts – MFA Interaction Design
• MIT Physical Computing for Artists
• ArtCenter College of Design – Interaction Design BS
• University of Washington – Interactive Design Program
• Stanford University (d.school) – Product Design
• Potsdam Interaction Design Lab
• Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation – UC Berkeley