d . tools : Visually Prototyping Physical UIs through Statecharts

Abstract

Processor enabled products, each with its own user inter- face, have pervaded everyday life. To facilitate interaction design exploration for novel devices, we have developed d.tools, a design tool for prototyping the bits and the atoms of physical user interfaces in concert. It enables designers without specialized engineering or programming knowl- edge to quickly build functional interactive prototypes. d.tools offers a visual authoring environment that allows for drag-and-drop specification of interaction models for tangible user interfaces in a matter of minutes.