Causing commotion with a shape-changing bench: experiencing shape-changing interfaces in use

Abstract

In this paper we describe results from testing coMotion, a shape-changing bench, in three different contexts: a concert hall foyer, an airport departure hall and a shopping mall. We have gathered insights from more than 120 people, with regard to how users experience and make sense of the bench's shape changing capability. The paper applies McCarthy and Wright's six different sense making processes (anticipating, connecting, interpreting, reflecting, appropriating and recounting) as an instrument to analyse people's experience with shape-changing furniture in the wild. The paper also introduces exploring as a seventh sense making process. Based on this analysis, the paper points to three relevant aspects when designing shape-changing artefacts for the wild, namely: 1) Affordance of shape-changing interfaces, 2) Transitions between background and foreground and 3) Interpreting physically dynamic objects.