Do Tangible User Interfaces Impact Spatial Cognition in Collaborative Design?

Developments in digital design workbenches that combine Augmented Reality (AR) systems and tangible user interfaces (TUIs) on a horizontal display surface provide a new kind of physical and digital environment for collaborative design. The combination of tangible interaction with AR display techniques change the dynamics of the collaboration and have an impact on the designers’ perception of 3D models. We are studying the effects of TUIs on designers’ spatial cognition and design communication in order to identify how such tangible systems can be used to provide better support for collaborative design. Specifically, we compared tangible user interfaces (TUIs) with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) in a collaborative design task with a focus on characterising the impact these user interfaces have on spatial cognition.