ReFlex is a shape-changing mobile phone, designed to explore the level of control offered to the user of shape-changing interfaces, and in what way the shape change is initiated. The project was motivated by a lack of attention being paid to the relation between users’ actions and product movements. To illustrate how different ways of interacting, and thus, consequently, how different levels of control impact the use of a shape-changing interface, we designed ReFlex.
The work presents a framework articulating the level of control offered to the user over the shape change. The framework considers whether the shape change is: 1) directly controlled by the user’s explicit interactions; 2) negotiated with the user; 3) indirectly controlled by the user’s actions; 4) fully controlled by the system.
