Brainstorming and Bodystorming as Gesture Vocabulary Design Methods

Objective: The aim of this study was to comparatively evaluate two different gesture design methods, brainstorming and bodystorming in terms of the usability of designed gestures. Background: Designing a proper gesture vocabulary for a given application is crucial for enhancing user experience during gesture-based interaction. A number of methods have been developed for gesture vocabulary design. They include: design by system designers, design using random gesture generation and user evaluation, and design by users. Design by users is generally regarded as an effective design approach. At present, design by users seems to be conducted primarily based on brainstorming and bodystorming. Since designers experience actual or simulated physical interactions during bodystorming, which cannot be experienced during brainstorming, it is possible to hypothesize that the outcomes from bodystorming are superior to those from brainstorming. This study empirically investigated this hypothesis Methods: 20 study participants were equally divided into two groups (brainstorming and bodystorming) and were asked to design gestures for a set of 10 commands. Experts evaluated the gesture vocabularies generated in terms of preference, intuitiveness, effectiveness and naturalness. Results: Slight differences in preference and intuitiveness were found between the two gesture design methods. Conclusion: No significant differences were found between the two methods in any of the usability measures. The current results seem to suggest that bodystorming does not provide clear advantages over brainstorming for gesture vocabulary design. Further research is needed to confirm this. Application: The study results might be useful for enhancing the practice of gesture vocabulary design.