Gestural, multi-touch user interfaces have made using a computer interesting again. This is good and bad. But two big names in usability, Jakob Nielsen and Don Norman, are concerned that it’s more bad than good. I am concerned that their response to the situation, a call for new guidelines, is a reactionary backlash that could hinder innovation and beauty in interaction design.
After scoffing at the idea at first, I sat down to think about whether it was possible to develop guidelines that are open enough to allow for innovation, playfulness, and beauty but strong enough to keep usability high. I think it might be, and these are my first thoughts about it. What follows is a series of conversation-starters, potential guidelines that need to be tested and vetted before they can be solid. For now, the discussion will be limited to skeuomorphic interfaces, but additional guidelines are necessary for multi-touch UI in general and novel UIs specifically.
