Workshop: Designing for touch... and beyond

with Josh Clark

Touchscreens are everywhere now, even the desktop, and this workshop tells you what you need to know to make the most of them. Fingers and thumbs turn desktop design conventions on their head, with the ergonomics of handheld devices demanding entirely new design patterns for both web and apps.

Handheld touchscreen design introduces ergonomic concerns that are new to many digital designers; it's no longer just how your pixels look but also how they feel. At the same time, touch gestures have the opportunity to sweep away buttons, menus and windows from mobile devices, but gesture design takes care and education. Find out how to do it the right way.

What you will learn:

This workshop takes a hands-on approach to touchscreen design with practical guidelines, rich examples, exercises, and a bunch of new rules that bust the "settled" conventions of the desktop. And you're not done there; touchscreen devices come loaded with all kinds of other sensors, opening the door to new-to-the-world interactions that push interfaces offscreen and into the environment around us.

• Layout and sizing guidelines for touchscreens on phones and tablets...and desktop, too
• Emerging gesture conventions and design patterns for both apps and web
• How to make gestures discoverable by educating users with contextual cues
• Techniques for making touch interactions fast and efficient
• How to cope with the reduced real estate left in the wake of giant touch targets
• When the best touch UI is no touch at all; how to use sensors to speed or replace touch input
• Opportunities to push frontiers with entirely new interactions through touch

No technology required though a laptop might be helpful at times. This is a workshop for people of all skill levels. All necessary material like pen and paper will be provided.

Josh Clark will also give a talk at push.conference 2015 on Magical UX: Designing for the Internet of Things. Have a look here!

Registration for the workshop

Each participant receives a concluding workshop certificate for presentation at work or as proof of qualification for future applications.