Organic User Interfaces (Oui!): Designing Computers in Any Way Shape or Form

Over the past few years, there has been a quiet revolution in display manufacturing technology. One that is only comparable in scope to that of the invention of the first LCD, which led to DynaBook and the modern laptop. E-ink electrophoretic pixel technology, combined with advances in organic thin-film circuit substrates, have led to displays that are so thin and flexible they are beginning to resemble paper. Soon displays will completely mimic the high contrast, low power consumption and flexibility of printed media. As with the invention of the first LCD, this means we are on the brink of a new paradigm in computer user interface design: one in which computers can have any organic form or shape. One where any object, no matter how complex, dynamic or flexible its structure, may display information. One where the deformation of shape is a main source of input.

This new paradigm of Organic User Interface (Oui!) requires a new set of design guidelines, which I will discuss in this presentation. These guidelines were inspired by architecture, which went through a similar transformation decades ago. In Oui! The Input Device Is The Output Device (TIDISTOD), Form dynamically follows Flow of activities of the human body, and Function equals Form. I will give an overview of technologies that led to Organic UI, such as Tangible UI and Digital Desks, after which I will discuss some of the first real Oui! interfaces, which include Gummi and PaperWindows. PaperWindows, which was developed at HML, is the first real paper computer. It uses computer vision to track sheets of real paper in real time. Page shape is modeled in 3D, textured with windows and projected back onto the paper, making for a wireless hi-res flexible color display. Interactions with PaperWindows take place through hand gestures and paper folding techniques.