Calico: A Sketching Tool for Early Software Design

Students: Nicolas Mangano, UC Irvine/ISR, Alex Baker, UC Irvine/ISR, Brad Dykzeul, UC Irvine, Mitch Dempsey, UC Irvine

Advisor: André van der Hoek, UC Irvine/ISR

Abstract:

Sketching is a common technique employed by software designers in the initial stages of design; however, designers today prefer the primitive yet effective white board approach over digital alternatives, which they feel are cumbersome for the creative process. Previous tools such as DENIM, SILK, Knight, and SUMLOW attempted to interpret the actions by the user; however, literature and experience have demonstrated that the slightest defect in interpretation is damaging to the creative process. Taking user experience with these previous tools in mind, the Calico project was approached with the mindset that a design exploration tool must allow the designer to enter a creative flow. Calico uses the metaphor of scraps of paper to drive user interaction. The user is given tools that were built to support the creative design process, such as a grid to easily navigate multiple drawing canvases, as well as a palette to quickly reuse scraps the designer deems important. Calico aims to create the optimum "flow" experience in creative design that is not possible with current development tools. Calico remains in development; however, experiments are soon planned to determine the extent to which this tool may increase creativity over a white board alone.

Bio:

Nicolas Mangano is a Ph. D student at the University of California, Irvine with a bachelors in Computer Science and Psychology. He is interested in creating tools that support the creative software designer.

Alex Baker received his B.S. and M.S in Information and Computer Science from the University of California Irvine. He is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Information and Computer Science, researching the role of design in software development. He previously developed Problems and Programmers, an educational software engineering card game.

Brad Dykzeul is an undergraduate in Informatics. He is interested in creating software that supports co-operative development and design.

Mitch Dempsey is an undergraduate in Information and Computer Science. After graduation he plans to focus on website development.