On Monday 15th June, I headed over to the Conchango offices near London Bridge to attend the June London UX bookclub. We were set to discuss Dan Saffer’s Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices.

I was lucky enough to receive one of a handful of free copies that Leisa Reichelt had to give out from O’Reilly. What was even more amazing was that I’d actually finished the book beforehand.

We were lucky to be treated to a short excerpt that Leisa had filmed at UX London from the man himself. Unfortunately he was travelling with his family and wasn’t able to attend the bookclub. His short message stated that he felt he had missed some important things from the book, mainly context is incredibly important, you need to consider accidental triggers and we all need to think about gestural standards.

We split into small groups to discuss what we felt about the book. Some of the topics we touched on were:

• A TED Talk on a new prototype called the Sixth Sense. This really is the future of gestural interfaces, where the wearer can really interact with the world, in a context that is appropriate to the environment.
• Filler in the book, the chapters on anatomy came under scrutiny from some (personally I found them very interesting and valid) and the large reference section at the back.
• Accessibility and Gestural Interfaces. I personally felt there wasn’t enough information on this topic. How we can create alternatives for those with limited abilities seems to be a big open question.
• Documentation and what was appropriate for deliverables in relation to gestural interfaces. The concept of Lava Notation was incredibly interesting but unfeasible for most people. We discussed how video and imagery could be appropriate in this context.
• Standards for gestural interfaces. There was concern from some over companies filing patents for gestures. General consensus from the group was that it would have been great to have a library documented as per Christian Crumlish and Erin Malone’s book and accompanying wiki for Designing Social Interfaces.
• The gestural interface of the Wii vs. Xbox 360. The Wii seems more of a social, novelty platform, with limited games which make the most of its gestural capabilities, whereas the xbox 360, whilst more traditional has a larger range of games which is more suited to playing on your own or across a network. Context certainly plays a big part in this.

We re-joined as a big group and discussed some of our findings in more detail. Some of the other concepts mentioned were the emergence of higher fidelity prototypes, the importance of narrative and iterations taking place with the client present as opposed to separately. Unfortunately I was too busy talking to make more notes!

Dan Saffer’s Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices is a practical book that I can recommend to anyone interesting in learning more about gestural interfaces. However, I believe there is still a long way to go in the field and what’s definitive now, is outdated tomorrow. Hopefully there is going to be an online component to this book which starts to document and expand on the gestural standards that are in the book as well as encourage discussion and innovation in the field.

Thanks to the Conchango team for hosting us, Leisa Reichelt for organising and everyone for attending. I really enjoyed the evening. The next two bookclubs are scheduled for August and October, where we will be discussing Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert and Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-centered Products and Services by Kim Goodwin.

I’m not sure how I managed to get such a queue of UX books lined up but our bedside table is chockers (Australian slang for full or lots) with them.

Design is the Problem by Nathan Shedroff
I actually finished this one in May. It’s good book that has left it’s mark on me, I’ve given a lot more thought to not just my own consumption but also at a deeper level. I’ve often found myself considering how I can improve a particular product. Any book that encourages as much thought or consideration for months after you read it must be doing something right. It’s only flaw is that I wanted more information about the subjects and techniques it looked at.

Designing Gestural Interfaces by Dan Saffer
I’m most of the way through this one. I’m hoping to wrap it up in time for the London UX Bookclub tomorrow. It’s been an enlightening book so far, especially as I’m not really familiar with gestural interfaces. It’s clearly a great reference book but I can’t help thinking that it would have been more useful if it had a digital equivalent that could be easily updated as time goes on. Thanks once again to Leisa Reichelt for organising this competition and giving me a free book.

Design Meets Disability by Graham Pullin
I wrote about Graham’s talk at the Design Museum previously but I’m yet to finish the book. It’s a beautifully designed book, full of insights and examples of how we could do a lot better when it comes to designing for disability. From a quick flick through, it is largely focused on product design rather than digital. I’d be interested to hear Graham’s thoughts on this. However, if you look at the age of the particular industries: fashion, industrial, digital, we are one of the youngest but from what I can see the best at catering to the needs of those with disabilities. We certainly have a long way to go though.

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites by Louis Rosenfeld and Peter Morville
Confession time: I’ve never read this book. Is that really bad for someone who considers themself an IA? Most of this, I seemed to pick up on the fly. As I’ve skimmed through this, most of it I know already but I feel like I need to tick this box and actually read it. Thanks to the lovely Bookmoocher who sent this one to me.

Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories by Donna Spencer
I went to a session of Donna’s way back in 2008 at the IA Summit in Miami which was really helpful. So when it came out a little while ago, I had to have it. I’m yet to start on this one, but hopefully I will do soon. Will include some reviews and thoughts when I update my reading list!

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
My former boss gave a few of us in the Answers Leadership team this book to read. I’ve yet to open it but looking forward to delving into it when I get the chance.