Variable and situated user interfaces. Assumptions, Potentials and Design Issues.

Increasing computational capacity, small-size and small-cost sensors are leading the way towards widespread and pervasive presence of smart and IoT-based devices. The contribution presents an ongoing research conducted within DecoChrom, a Horizon 2020 project working on interfaces that have the potential to modify the functionality of a smart object by appearing and disappearing. Since 2018, we started developing interfaces that draw themselves accordingly to the user need. Drawing User Interfaces have the ability to react to external stimuli—as the information gathered from the physical world via sensors—, modifying their aesthetics and function accordingly. Following this logic, an object can display different interfaces depending on its positioning, physical variation of the environment, or even the presence of other smart objects.