ISO 9241-960:2017

Overview

ISO 9241-960:2017 - part of the ISO 9241 series on the ergonomics of human–system interaction - provides a framework and practical guidance for the design, selection, evaluation and documentation of human gestures used in gesture interfaces. The standard focuses on gesture usability and the gesture definition process (not on the system’s internal response to gestures). It is applicable to tactile/haptic and spatial gesture interactions captured in 2D or 3D (noting that all human gestures are inherently 3D).

Key topics and technical requirements

ISO 9241-960 covers technical and ergonomic aspects that influence gesture interface quality, including:

• Gesture design process

  • Exploring the design space, identifying purposes, designing gestures and gesture commands
  • Organizing and iterating gesture sets
  • Evaluating gestures and documenting outcomes

• Ergonomics and device considerations

  • Ergonomic constraints and features of human movement
  • Device capabilities and constraints for tablets, spatial gesture sensors, wearable devices and tactile/haptic systems

• Gesture features and parameters

  • Mapping gesture commands to functions and structuring gesture sets
  • Stroke gestures, nested gestures and gesture sequences
  • Timing, speed, tolerance and the effect of transitions and overlapping gestures

• Feedback and feedforward

  • Guidance on feedback for stroke gestures, continuous feedback, and feedforward information to support correct execution

• Documentation

  • Naming, visualizing and textually documenting individual gestures and gesture sets for reproducibility and cross-device comparison

• Scope limits

  • Focuses on gestures expressed by people (not on system-side responses)
  • References normative concepts from ISO 9241-910 and links to gesture-specific standards

Practical applications

ISO 9241-960 is directly applicable to the design and evaluation of gesture interfaces in:

• Tablets and mobile touch interfaces
• Spatial gesture recognition systems (e.g., camera or depth-sensor based)
• Wearable and haptic devices (instrumented gloves, tactile arrays)
• Assistive technologies and special-purpose interactive environments

Using this guidance improves gesture usability, consistency, discriminability and documentation for implementation and testing across platforms.

Who should use this standard

• UX/HCI designers and interaction designers creating gesture-based controls
• Product managers and system architects defining gesture requirements
• Hardware and sensor manufacturers designing capture systems
• Usability researchers and evaluators testing gesture interactions
• Accessibility specialists and standards implementers

Related standards

• ISO 9241-910 (framework for tactile and haptic interaction)
• ISO 9241 series (ergonomics of human–system interaction)
• ISO/IEC 14754 and the ISO/IEC 30113 series (standardized specific gestures)
• ISO/IEC 14574 and ISO 9241-171 (referenced terminology and interfaces)

Keywords: ISO 9241-960, gesture interactions, gesture interface, gesture design, gesture documentation, ergonomics of human-system interaction, gesture usability, tactile haptic interaction.