LeapMotion, a human computer interaction technology that is to be launched this year, is expected to take the digital world by storm, giving users a very intuitive way to interact with screens without physically touching the screens – a bit like Microsoft Kinect only better because the better accuracy gives the user better control of the display.
The promotional video below will show you it’s potential for use with a desktop computer, however we’ve started to think about the potential for this type of three dimensional user interface for shopping at home and in store. We’re all used to browsing in a very flat digital world – up and down, left and right using our mouse as the interface or in the now established touch screen world, pinch to zoom in and out of maps or examining detail on a photograph.
With a 3D interface, the natural movement of your hand across all axes could enable a very intuitive way to explore a 3d product photo. It could also be used to browse the catalogue by moving the hand forwards to zoom into a category and backwards to zoom back up the hierarchy with swiping to flick through products. This could be put into a store environment allowing the customer to interact with digital screens – the trick would be to make it as effortless as possible for the customer to explore.
