Investigating Usability and User Experience of Layer-based Interaction with a Deformable Elastic Display

Elastic displays afford a natural stacking of information layers in their haptic interaction space. So far, research has focused on technical issues and interaction concepts by pushing and pulling the surface of such displays. We report a study with 24 participants that investigates the feasibility and limitations of interaction with 6 to 21 layers. We measured completion times and error rates for reaching and holding specific target layers and observed performed gestures. Our findings show that solution time increases with more layers while precision is maintained with a mean success rate of holding a layer of 70 %, even when using up to 21 layers. User experience measurements show that hedonic qualities of the interaction were rated higher than pragmatic qualities. Our investigation proves the general feasibility of using layer-based interaction with an elastic display and provides guidelines on the limitations.