User Experience in Gestural Interaction – Systematic Comparison of Arm and Hand Gestures

Physical exertion has been extensively investigated in recent research on gestural interaction. It has been shown that users perceive gestures as more convenient if they are easier to perform in terms of effort.

Our research question is how screen size affects user perception about the effort of a gesture. Different gestures have been looked at. In a user study 45 subjects interacted with a game prototype with three different gesture pairs in front of two different screen sizes.

The results show that screen size does not affect user perception of effort. The users felt small gestures to be less effortful independent of screen size. Furthermore, small gestures were performed faster and more precisely. In addition, there is a difference between horizontal and vertical movements concerning effort. Overall small gestures feel more appropriate for a small screen and big gestures more appropriate for a big screen which allows a convenient interaction in front of the appropriate screen size.