Twins 04

Click and drag the circles.

In Twins 04 when a dot is clicked, other dots will move somewhat sympathetically but with limitations. The initially clicked dot is tightly mapped to input and responds immediately and exactly. Another selection of dots will move as if tightly mapped, except they will move in fixed increments of distance (that of their width), and only if the velocity of the input movement is above a certain thresh hold. They have the appearance, or feel, of being ‘sticky’. Another selection of dots moves more continuously, but lags behind mouse input movements. While the clicked dot always responds immediately and continuously, the focus is drawn to the collection of ‘sticky’ dots and their somewhat haphazard response. I might describe the overall effect as a ‘tease’.

It may be reasonable to say that in a more complex artifact with many things responding to input, we look for or notice what is at the tip of our conscious control, and that the target of a manipulation may be influenced or redirected by the manner in which the system responds. In the cases like token chain where a user may consciously switch their objective point of manipulation from one element to another it may be said that a form’s manipulable qualities may themselves be the target of a manipulation.