How do you go about designing an extra-large touchscreen when you're used to designing with a thumb-sized area? Here I have compiled a design guide for super-large touchscreens to provide inspiration for designers to design user interactions.
1. Interact with natural gestures
Why "swipe left and right" is so popular among all touch screen actions, because it is the most natural hand movement and gesture for users.
When designing oversized touchscreens, designers must consider not only the movements of the user's fingers, but also the operation of the entire hand. Most users have to reach for larger touchscreens because they may be taped to a wall or placed on a table compared to handheld devices.
If you want the user to be able to easily touch the screen, the triggering of the action should be as natural as it is on a mobile device, so think about triggering the action. Compared with small screens, the swipe trigger on large screens may need to be more exaggerated, so taps may require more finger pressure.
In a device with a large screen, excessive swipe design may seem unfriendly to users, because repeated up and down swiping operations may cause arm fatigue. Think about how to design so that users don't need a lot of swiping while browsing content.
Another natural "gesture" interaction is gaze scanning. Due to the large screen size of some devices, the user's eyes cannot catch everything at once. Designers should design for the movement characteristics of the eyes from top to bottom and from left to right. Make sure users see the most important information and understand how users can interact with the design.
2. Increase the display scale of text and graphics
Enlarging text and graphics isn't usually the case in design, because designers have to enlarge visual elements significantly enough to display on very large screens. However, a bigger screen doesn't mean more stuff to show (and vice versa), try to think of it as a special user experience. Everything on the touchscreen, including text and graphics, must be scaled up to fit the size of the extra-large screen design. The reason for this is:
Users tend to interact from a greater distance and still need to see and differentiate elements.
Users need to be drawn to the screen by specific visible elements.
Users need to see visual cues to help them identify screens for public use.
Screen elements must be navigable and clearly displayed in the absence of directives.
Touch targets need to be easy to see and create noticeable interactions.
3. Make sure navigation is always available
The mentality of most users using an oversized touchscreen, similar to visiting a website for the first time, makes navigation even more important. Designing to mimic this scenario makes it easy to attract users to your design and interact with it. It is important to note that the designer wants to ensure that the navigation is always available when the user is accessing different content.
When designing a navigation pattern for your product, it is best to use a navigation pattern that is commonly used in general websites, such as setting the navigation bar at the top of the screen or in the sidebar.
Also make sure that the navigation doesn't disappear when users visit different content or pages. While the home screen may be designed to contain only a few large navigation buttons, other screens are best served in a traditional navigation format for ease of use by the user.
Also, minimize keyboard-based input on these screens. On larger screens, the keyboard can become unwieldy and slow, requiring extra physical effort from the user. However, if you do have keyboard-based input, set up a keyboard toggle command in the navigation so the user can easily show and hide the keyboard when needed.
4. Don't create too many options
The bigger the screen, the more choices the user has, and the more time it takes. Instead, think of buttons and interactions as a game of how to get users to make quick decisions. The trick with the design is to let them choose between two elements and not provide too many options.
The benefit of this design is that it simplifies your design. Offering just two options per screen reduces design elements and visual clutter, creating a more usable interface.
When designing options, make sure the actions are equally visible. How do users choose these options? Buttons must be obvious and easy for users to touch. Use a small animation to draw the user's attention to an interactive element, or a more popular user option.
Simplification options are also very important due to screen size. Keep in mind that the entire screen may not always be in the user's field of vision, which limits the options themselves somewhat. If you simplify the options ahead of time, you don't have to worry about the environment affecting the user's options.
5. Consider user privacy
User privacy is an issue worth considering when it comes to touchscreen access to sensitive information or data. Just because users use large-screen devices in public places doesn't mean they want others to know what they're doing, especially when entering important information. And the bigger the screen, the more likely others will see what the user is typing.
To solve this problem, designers often use a smaller popup for form or data entry, so that the user's input is not visible even from a distance.
6. network connection problem
When it comes to the design of a large touch screen, the most important issue to consider is the network environment of the product. How can I make the product work with or without a network?
Think about it: In public spaces, many large-screen or small-screen devices (such as mobile kiosks or large tablets) are portable. This involves the device's access to the Internet and whether the network connection is working properly. These touchscreen devices need to remain functional even when not connected to the Internet.
Tip: Make sure that all tool-related data (from Java to font libraries to data collection) running the design is stored locally.
7. Set up obvious interactive buttons
Such designs need to show the user how to interact with the screen, and not every user immediately understands how to act on the screen.
Visual cues such as animations and buttons are recommended to help guide users through the process.
Most oversized touchscreens provide users with a one-time interaction or trigger point, and each interface is different. The more obvious this prompt is set, the easier it is for users to understand the action and thus the more likely they are to interact with your product.
In addition to this, many touchscreen areas of the screen that involve activation and start also require interaction buttons. For example, in a start screen, the designer will use a button to prompt the interaction. This setting does not deviate from the design, but also tells the user how to operate the device.
Use descriptive prompts like "touch here to get started" to guide users through the process. While this thinking element may seem overly obvious, how to use the interface is not something that users should dig into, but rather make it easier.
in conclusion
Do you have any experience designing oversized touchscreens? This touch screen design has become a popular trend. Even if you haven't done such a design yet, I believe you will be exposed to it soon.
While most of the design principles are the same as other interface-based designs, the size of an oversized touchscreen and its resizing can leave many designers at a loss. So, when you see an oversized touchscreen in public, it’s better to stop and work on the interface and get a feel for its interactive design. See which design elements and interactions appeal to you to reference in future designs for extra-large touchscreens.
