Supporting Innovation: A Behavior-Sketching Tool for Early Multimedia Design

Abstract

To design innovative temporal and interactive behavior for a multimedia application, a multimedia designer needs to rapidly explore numerous behavioral design ideas early in the design process. Because current mechanisms do not adequately support this need, we have developed an electronic sketching tool called DEMAIS. DEMAIS enables a designer to rapidly sketch behavioral design ideas and then run that sketch to experience those ideas. Through its sketching language and layers, DEMAIS reduces the need to create multiple copies of similar storyboards when sketching behavior. In this paper, we discuss the use of layers for sketching, present usability lessons learned from an evaluation of the tool, and discuss how sketching toolkits can better support future applications.