Design Tip #4 for Creating Multi-Touch Experiences - Respect Privacy

After years of enabling our customers to build interactive content, we've identified what we formally call "10 Things You Need To Know When Creating Multi-Touch Experiences". Informally, each tip represents an area of focus whose insight can make the difference between a successful and a failed deployment.

Design Tip #4- Respect Privacy

Every time a person touches your display, they are expressing a personal opinion. Your installation must account for the level of privacy a visitor will require to feel comfortable.

Screen size and design are influenced by intimacy of decisions your visitors will make

A large wall-mounted display probably isn’t best if you’re collecting credit card numbers. On the other hand, if you want to attract a crowd, make it loud and proud. It helps to know your demographic as well. Will they be comfortable knowing they'll be watched by others?

If personal information is collected, make sure purging occurs clearly and effectively

If you collect anything personal - from first name or email address to credit card information - it must be clear to your user that they can trust your installation to respect their privacy. Certainly, you need some visual element indicating the transaction has completed. Perhaps a message at the very beginning to allay concerns ("We promise to respect your privacy and not share any of your personal information with....". And at all points, display some sort of "Cancel" option which is followed by a message indicating all personal information has been purged.

Use table-mounting, enveloping enclosures and other physical approaches to increase a sense of security

If intimacy is important, reduce the screen footprint and install it so that onlookers won't be able to see the screen when in use. If you're telling users to "cup they're hands over the screen to prevent peeking", your installation has failed. You'd want the same if you were the target audience.

On the other hand, touch-first experiences can draw a crowd.

Museum installation? Go too small and people may not even notice. Want multiple participants? Interesting because this might benefit from a table-mounted display, enable 360 degrees of participation. In this latter case, signage may be necessary. Aesthetics play a role as well. If there are multiple, equally important themes, settle on a modest-sized display to reduce cost and create an equitable distribution. Plus, once visitors get the idea, you won't need to advertise every display. Visitors will seek them out.

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