Cicero: A Concept for Gesture Hinting on Mobile Devices

Category: Mobile Design, User ExperienceRealized: September 2013

This concept was developed during my master thesis project done at the Interaction Design & Technologies program at Chalmers University (Gothenburg - Sweden). Special thanks go to Sus Lundgren, my supervisor and mentor.

Cicero was created to explore how gesture hinting can be designed to increase the usability of an app without disturbing those who choose not to use it. It was user tested in comparison with a previously suggested concept, called Alchemy, which it clearly outranked. Cicero allows users to ask help to the OS in every situation where the user doesn't know how to interact with an item on the screen. Cicero is not obtrusive since uses a mode intentionally evoked by the user. Cicero is easy to use and quick to learn. The results from the user testing show the goodness in terms of effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Moreover Cicero is a concept extremely flexible, adaptable, and can also introduce custom gestures and can be extended to tablet devices. Therefore Cicero is a good concept that shows a way to the gesture hinting problem's solution.

The complete master thesis's project is describe on the website http://www.francescobusolini.it/Cicero/index.html.

The master thesis is available here: Cicero: A Concept for Gesture Hinting on Mobile Devices (PDF)