Project 2 required teams to again sketch basic ideas of alternatives to the "Slide to Unlock" feature on the mobile phone, one set of ideas that were based on a multitouch or gesture interaction, and another set that were based on an interaction with any of the sensors that mobile phones are equipped with.
"Slide to Unlock" Alternatives
For the first stage of the design process, our team was required to produce 10 sketches, individually, of an initial idea for our multitouch based interface, and do the same for our sensor-based interface idea. My 10 sketches from this stageare outlined below.
Concept 1 made use of a heat sensor, such that the user unlocks their phone after a certain temperature is detected. Concept 2 uses voice recognition to ensure that only the passphrase/word spoken in the user's voice unlocks the phone. Concept 3 is a multitouch-based idea in which the user signs a secret signature to unlock their phone.
Concept 4 uses facial recognition to recognize the user's chosen facial expression as the key to unlock the phone. Concepts 5 and 6 are other multitouch-based ideas, with concept 5 incorporating a user's secret rhythmic tap sequence, and concept 7 incorporating a password/phrase in Sign Language, to unlock the phone (respectively).
Concept 8 requires the user to perform a series of actions with their phone in their hand, making use of the device's accelerometer so that a certain speed unlocks their phone when it is reached. Concept 9 requires the user to take a photo of a pre-defined object of some sort that acts as a password. Lastly, concept 10 requires the user to make a series of specific sounds in a set order, to unlock their device.
My set of individual sketches were a mix of touch-based, gesture-based and sensor-based interactions, with most of them incorporating some sort of sensor-Concepts 4, 7 and 9 use the device's camera, while concepts 2 and 10 make use of the microphone, concept 8 uses an accelerometer, and concept 1 uses a heat sensor.
For the next stage of the ideation process, our team was required to create 10 more detailed/varied sketches based on the first stage. Our team decided to have each team member create their next 10 sketches based on some of our overall best ideas from the first stage of ideation (which were a Compass-based interface, a facial recognition-based interface and an "app recognition" interface that was multitouch-based). I chose to create 10 variations of the last two of the aforementioned best team ideas for my contribution, which can be seen below.
These first 5 variation sketches utilize the idea that the user knows the order and layout of the apps on their phone's Home Screen and/or Lock Screen. Concepts 1 and 2 involve the user tapping on the correct apps in the correct secret order to unlock their device.
Concepts 3 and 4 use a different type of touch-based interaction, 3 using swiping across the screen and 4 using drag-and-drop, to enable the user to essentially prove they know the layout of the app icons on their Home Screen. This idea of proving that the operator of the phone knows their app icons and the placement of each one on their phone was the foundation of our final multitouch-based interface that we implemented (the "Escape the Elevator" interface).
Concept 5 is the last of my variations based on the "app recognition" idea from the first stage of ideation. This final idea was a twist on the conventional "Enter Passcode" feature that most modern mobile phones provide, in that the 'digits' or 'letters' in this case were icons of apps that can be found on the phone. Again we see this idea of only the true owner of the phone being able to recognize the layout and icons of the apps that they have installed on their phone.
These first two sketches are my variations on the Facial Recognition idea from our first stage of ideation, (which was provided by another team member). Concept 6 involves the user mouthing their secret password or phrase, and the camera captures the movement of their mouth and ensures it is correct in order to unlock their phone. Concept 7 involves the user making a number of different facial expressions, in an order known only to them, in order to unlock their phone.
The last three variations of this Facial recognition idea all involve some sort of movement that is captured by the device's camera. In concept 8, the phone asks the user to take a photo with both that colour and their face in the frame. This idea incorporates both facial recognition and an extra layer of authentication that may further discourage an intruder from trying to unlock the owner's phone. Concept 9 is, similarly to one of my individual ideas from the first stage of ideation, a take on the common "Enter a passcode" unlock feature on mobile phones; this idea requires the user to capture each digit of their numerical passcode in the form of a hand symbol (i.e. the way numbers are symbolized in many English-speaking countries). Finally, concept 10 requires the user to make a series of head movements in a specific order that is known only to them. The phone will only unlock if the camera identifies that the head movements were accurate and shown in the correct order that was determined by the user.
We ultimately decided to implement the accelerometer-based Compass idea to create our final sensor-based alternative to the "Slide to Unlock" feature, and the multitouch-based "Elevator Escape" idea for the second alternative to the "Slide to Unlock" feature. These decisions were made according to peer and instructor feedback; the Compass interface was the most promising of the sensor-based ideas, as it had the unique security feature of requiring the operator to know specific information (such as where on the screen to tap in order to confirm the sensory input given to the accelerometer, and that the directions that the compass was pointed in was directly related to the user's passcode). As for the decision to implement the "Escape the Elevator" interface, this was our choice because it was one of the most positively-received ideas from both the instructor and other students in the class, and was a creative take on the Unlock feature on a mobile phone that enabled us to tell a cohesive story. Here are videos showcasing our finished projects.
Our project repository can be found at https://github.com/JuneK15/581Assignment2
