For the past month I’ve been working on a project to demo and evaluate a multitouch computing platform at the Ontario Science Centre. The MT2 Table was designed by IDEUM a specialty exhibitry and media company located in Corrales, New Mexico.
In addition to being personally pumped about getting to work with this new emergent interface technology, I’m also very optimistic about its potential for creating fun and engaging exhibits. It’s still early days, but we’re working to rigorously evaluate how our visitors respond to the content that we’re offering.
Preliminary findings suggest that designing successfully for multitouch differs significantly from how you might design for conventional touchscreen based exhibits. Specifically, interface design seems to work best when geared toward multiple points of interest. Given that there is 360° access to the computing surface, it also helps to dispense with privileging any single viewing direction. Instead, interfface should be kept minimal and legible from all angles.