Outline, Working Bibliography, and Low-Fi Prototype

Everything here is still a work in progress, but it is where I am at thus far in the process. These can also be viewed in their respective locations among the thesis portion of my website.

Thesis Statement:

Utilizing Interface Material Design and Human Factors theory, we can create more engaging user interfaces for three-dimensional games and applications.

Thesis Abstract:

Google's Material Design guidelines give designers a methodical plan for designing applications for smart devices. While Material Design is a beneficial tool for two dimensional interface design, it lacks any guidelines for designing in a three dimensional space. Video Games, Virtual Reality, and Interactive Spaces can all be enhanced by Material Design. This change to Material Design also allows for three dimensional objects to be used as the materials themselves and allows for additional interface manipulation. Through Human Factors research, Psychology research, and my personal User Experience research, there is a way to incorporate Material Design in a three dimensional space that enhances the users navigation and enjoyment with the interface. The method used to enact Material Design in a three dimensional interface come from this research overlap and the guidelines presented for Material Design.

Outline:

Introduction
1. Introduction to Material Design and the exclusion of 3D Interface Design.
2. Thesis Statement: Utilizing Interface Material Design and Human Factors theory, we can create more engaging user interfaces for three-dimensional games and applications.
3. The visual component will be an interface designed using the Material Design guidelines re-purposed for a 3D space utilizing 3D components.
Material Design Analysis
1. Explanation of Material Design.
  1. What is Material Design?
  2. Why is Material Design limited to flat surfaces?
  3. Material Designs use of shadow to simulate three dimensions.
  4. Methods for incorporating 3D assets and space with Material Design.
2. Material Design used in current applications and media.
  1. Examples of work that utilizes Material Design in 2D.
  2. Examples of work that utilize Material Design in 3D (if any).
Literature Analysis
1. Current literature on Material Design and ideal uses.
2. Analysis of Human Factors Theory regarding Interface Design.
3. Analysis of Psychology Theory regarding Interface Design.
4. Similarities between Human Factors and Psychology Theory.
Current 3D Interface trends.
1. 3D Video Game Interface trends .
2. Virtual Reality Interface trends.
  1. Training Simulations.
  2. VR Games.
Physical Component
1. Objective: Develop a 3D interface that adheres to Material Design guidelines and ideally improves the user experience.
2. Material Design Guideline Development:
  1. Changes to the current Material Design guidelines.
  2. Methods of Manipulation: Individual Objects vs Environment Space
  3. Lighting and Texture concerns in three dimensions.
3. Analysis of Human Factors and Psychology Theory implementation.
4. Analysis of user surveys, interviews, and any empirical data gathered from user group.
5. Analysis of 3D Material Design Interface.
  1. Usability improved?
  2. Navigation Capabilities?
  3. User feedback and comparison of user satisfaction with traditional Material Design and current 3D Video Game interfaces.
6. Conclusion
  1. Potential future developments in 3D Material Design based on user feedback.
  2. Thesis objective successes and failures.

Bibliography:

Bowman, Doug A. 3d User Interfaces: Theory and Practice. N.p.: n.p., 2004. Print.

Dam, Andries Van, Kenneth Herndon, and Michael Gleicher. "The Challenges of 3D Interaction." Conference Companion on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '94 (1994): n.p. Web 4 Apr. 2016.

Dehn, Doris M., and Susanne Van Mulken. "The Impact of Animated Interface Agents: A Review of Empirical Research." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 52.1 (2000): 1-22. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.

Deterding Sebastian, Miguel Sicart, Lennart Nacke, Kenton O'Hara, and Dan Dixon. "Gamification. Using Game-design Elements in Non-gaming Contexts." Proceedings of the 2011 Annual Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI EA '11 (2011): n.p. Web. 4 Apr. 2016.

Doug A. Bowman, Ernst Kruijff, Joseph J. LaViola, and Ivan Poupyrev. 2001. An Introduction to 3-D User Interface Design. Presence: Teleoper. Virtual Environ. 10, 1 (February 2001), 96-108.

Doug A. Bowman, Sabine Coquillart, Bernd Froehlich, Michitaka Hirose, Yoshifumi Kitamura, Kiyoshi Kiyokawa, Wolfgang Stuerzlinger, "3D User Interfaces: New Directions and Perspectives," IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 20-36, November/December, 2008

"Introduction - Material Design - Google Design Guidelines." Google Design Guidelines. N.p., Mar. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016. <https://www.google.com/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html>.

Jacko, Julie A., and Andrew Sears. The Human-computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies, and Emerging Applications. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Print.

Jordan, Patrick W. Designing Pleasurable Products: An Introduction to the New Human Factors. London: Taylor & Francis, 2000. Print.

K. Coninx, F. Van Reeth and E. Flerackers, "A hybrid 2D/3D user interface for immersive object modeling," Computer Graphics International, 1997. Proceedings, Hasselt and Diepenbeek, Belgium, 1997, pp. 47-55.

Mandryk, Regan L., Kori M. Inkpen, and Thomas W. Calvert. "Using Psychophysiological Techniques to Measure User Experience with Entertainment Technologies." Behaviour & Information Technology 25.2 (2006): 141-58. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.

Wood, Larry E. User Interface Design: Bridging the Gap from User Requirements to Design. Boca Raton: CRC, 1998. Print.

Low Fidelity Prototype:

Here are some initial sketches of possible interaction models for a three dimensional interface. I'm basing many of the baseline interactions off of a cube because it is easy to work with, but this could ideally be used on any number of geometrical shapes.

Since we are working with three dimensional objects, there needs to be a guideline with how to go back in the system. I'm reserving the "left rotation" for backtracking to keep things uniform.

Cubes also present an interesting problem seeing as there are only six sides to a cube. With the reservation to manipulate backwards in the system, I am also reserving the "right rotation" for moving forwards. This is again for uniformity and simplicity. This would leave the "up" and "down" rotations for content selection, which in turn allows us to have any number of content faces since we can always progress forwards and backwards using the uniform left and right rotation commands.

Using three dimensional objects, we can scale the system up to multiple objects that control different content systems. We can also stack the objects to create more complex systems, where one can remain on a content section, while the other manipulations to another face.

For clarity, if we place the user inside of the three dimensional object, rotations and the system would work identically to the previously detailed method. The differences here would come if you were using multiple three dimensional objects, as now the user needs to be able to transition from one object to another.

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