A Gesture Elicitation Study to Generate Interaction Design Insights for Self-reporting of Mental and Body States Using a Portable Device

Self-report of mental or body states through Ecological Momentary Assessment is recommended over asynchronous methods, however, in contexts where users lack time for self-reporting, as with factory operators, this is a challenge. Furthermore, interaction designers lack references and guidelines to design these interactions. We designed a speculative prototype of a portable device that could recognise gestures corresponding to certain mental and body states and we conducted a gesture elicitation study with the prototype with eight participants. The gesture data were analysed and represented graphically to guide and inspire interaction designers. These visualisations were discussed and iterated on through two focus groups with a group of three interaction and communication designers. The study allowed to elicit visual gesture representations which may be useful to inspire and inform interaction designers and suggests that, if representations are aesthetically appealing to designers, they will be encouraged to spend time understanding complex data.