Methods for Modelling Sketches in the Collaborative Prototyping of User Interfaces

Cross-functional teams with different technical backgrounds working on crossplatform environments require the production of flexible modeling of user interfaces in early steps of a design process. We observe that model-driven engineering (MDE) is currently gaining acceptance in many domains. However, existing solutions have no support for collaborative prototyping of user interfaces by sketching recognition for multiple stakeholders (e.g., designers, developers, final end users) working with heterogeneous computing platforms (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktop), on different, perhaps separate or shared, interaction surfaces (e.g., tables, whiteboards) in a colocated way or remotely. This requires flexibility to explore and reuse vague and uncertain ideas as model sketching. This paper presents UsiSketch, an MDE method for modeling sketches that offers the following novel features resulting from a requirement elicitation process: sketching recognition on different surfaces based on a new recognition algorithm that accommodates very large surfaces and model-based design of user interfaces with collaboration.