Leap User Experience Guidelines

The following user experience guidelines comprise our recommendations to
ensure that your Leap-enabled application is easy to learn and use.

  • Keep in mind that symbology can be difficult to learn and memorize.

    Avoid forcing users to learn complex hand gestures to interact with
    your application.

  • Instead, draw inspiration from physical interaction and real-world
    behaviors.

    The more physically inspired interactions are, the less training a
    person needs and the more intuitive and natural your application
    feels.

  • Don’t feel constrained by the limitations or inconveniences of the
    real-world — this is your world.

    Interaction doesn’t have to be the way it has always been. It can
    be any way we imagine it to be. Why force the user to reach all the
    way out and grab an object? Why not have the object reach back? —
    Give them “the force”!

  • The user should feel as if their intent is amplified rather than
    subdued or masked.

    For example, users often like their movements to be amplified when
    using a mouse (i.e. they don’t need 10 inches of mouse movement to
    move 10 inches on screen). For gestural interactions, amplifying or
    exaggerating responses can have an even more positive result. Keep
    in mind that some people are more sensitive than others, so link
    this exaggeration to a sensitivity setting for users to modify this
    effect to their preference.

  • Concentrate on giving the user dynamic feedback to their actions.
    The more feedback they have, the more precisely they can interact
    with your software.

    For example, the user will need to know when they are “pushing” a
    button, but can be more effective if they can see when they are
    hovering over a button, or how much they are pressing it.

  • On screen visuals (such as representations of hands, tools, or
    digital feedback) should be simple, functional, and non-intrusive.

    The user should not be distracted from the task by their tools or
    environment. Decoration should not distract from your purpose.

  • Require more deliberate action for destructive or non-reversible
    acts than for harmless ones.

    Subtle gestures should be reserved for subtle actions. Conversely,
    an act such as closing an application or deleting a file can be a
    non-reversible event requiring a more deliberate action. Double
    check with the user when unsure, such as a prompt for confirmation.

  • Provide a clear delineation and specific sense of modality between
    acts of navigation and interaction, unless both are simple or one is
    handled automatically (or with assistance). Mixing the two in a
    complex situation can lead to confusion or disorientation.

    For example, moving an object while having the user simultaneously
    position their viewing angle inside a 3D environment is inherently
    difficult. However, if the viewing angle moves automatically in
    response to the user’s movement, then working with the object is
    easier. Likewise, when navigating a large data set the user will
    want the view to move easily, but when highlighting a portion of the
    data the view should remain still.

  • Overall, imagine that your user is faced with no instructions or
    tutorials on how to use your application.

    Strive at all costs to make their first intuitive guesses the right
    ones. Where appropriate, create more than one proper way to do
    something.


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Leap Motion proprietary and confidential. Not for distribution. Use
subject to the terms of the Leap Motion SDK Agreement available at
https://developer.leapmotion.com/sdk_agreement, or another agreement
between Leap Motion and you, your company or other organization.