A Design Space for Peripheral Interaction: Evidence Mapping and Transferable Implications

Abstract

Peripheral interaction research spans ambient displays, glanceable mobile cues, and emerging spatial/XR mechanisms, but design knowledge remains fragmented across devices and contexts. We present a two-stage synthesis that constructs a unified design space and derives cross-device transferable implications. First, we perform macro-level evidence mapping using two primary axes—attention demand (D1) and spatial placement (D10)—and locate 188 strongly relevant studies (Tier 1) in a D1×D10 grid. The map reveals a highly skewed landscape dominated by background environmental systems, while sparse regions indicate underexplored opportunities for far-field and spatially anchored peripheral mechanisms. Second, we extract actionable transfer rules from a deep set of 43 papers selected through maximum-difference coverage sampling across the D1×D10 grid. We apply a 12-dimension codebook (D1–D12) covering signal, interaction, temporal, and governance properties. Cross-dimensional coupling analysis reveals recurring tension structures (e.g., detectability vs. disruptiveness, aesthetics vs. legibility, and adaptivity vs. user control) and supports seven reusable implications expressed as operational transfer rules. Together, the unified design space, evidence map, and transfer rules provide a systematic foundation for cross-device peripheral interaction design and future periphery-aware HCI research.

Keywords: Peripheral Interaction, Design Space, Evidence Map, Cross-device UX

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1007741