Augmenting Mood Boards: Flexible and Intuitive Interaction in the Context of the Design Studio Andrés Lucero, Dima Aliakseyeu, Jean-Bernard Martens Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands {a.a.lucero, d.aliakseyeu, j.b.o.s.martens}@tue.nl Figure 1: Browsing images on a coffee table using hand movements in the design studio. Abstract In our studies aimed at understanding design practice we have identified the creation of mood boards as a relevant task for designers. In this paper we introduce an interactive table that supports one part of the mood-board making process (i.e. image browsing) by providing flexible and intuitive interaction for designers in the context of their design studios. We propose an image browser that: 1) merges with the real context allowing designers to work in the comfort of their existing design studio environment, 2) captures the current flexibility of interaction with physical images by allowing designers to work using hand movements, and 3) provides an alternative solution to a cluttered desk and messy design studio by using the space above the table for interaction. Exploratory evaluations show that designers were able to use the system with no prior training, and to see a practical use of the proposed image browser in their design studios. 1. Introduction The use of mood boards in the early stages of the design process is common practice for designers [6, 11]. Designers use mood boards to explore, communicate, and discuss ideas together with their clients. These boards can be created with different types of media although designers usually use images to say something about the target audience, product, and/or company they are designing for. Designers spend a great deal of time looking for such images in magazines. Browsing magazines in search for images is one of the first steps of the mood-board making process. Designers prefer going through their large collections of magazines in a comfortable place where they can freely start creating ad-hoc piles of magazines and pictures, making a ‘soft’ pre-selection of images. Designers end up with a large number of images taking up all available usable space in their design studios including tables, walls and floor (Figure 2). Space is not only limited to spreading images in the studio but also for storing magazines. Designers must throw away magazines in order to grow their collections with new material. Desktop and digital systems provide solutions for displaying and storing large amounts of images, however they do not provide the conditions to browse and select images in a flexible way and in comfortable spaces for designers in their design studios. In this paper we present an image browser (Figure 1) for designers that: 1) merges with the real context allowing designers to work in the comfort of their existing design studio environment, 2) captures the current flexibility of interaction with physical images by allowing designers to work using hand movements, and 3) provides an alternative solution to a cluttered desk and messy design studio by using the space above the table for interaction. Second Annual IEEE International Workshop on Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer System 0-7695-3013-3/07 $25.00 © 2007 IEEE DOI 10.1109/TABLETOP.2007.17 147