Our Spin
The Surface Studio and Dial represents the reason why we chose windows as the launching platform for Sketchable. Creatives can be hands on and focus on their work. With this combination of software and hardware, traditionally tedious tasks, like brush editing, take on a unique creativity of their own.
For decades, creative productivity was driven by the mouse and keyboard working in tandem. However, modern natural user experiences take more of a hands on approach. This empowers the user by letting them work directly atop their art with an active pen. Although while this form factor is more powerful and intuitive, it does leave the nondominant hand idle. The Surface dial meets this need and it has enormous potential in reinventing the way people directly interact with their artwork. This is most evident when the Surface Studio and Dial are used in concert and that was the inspiration for Sketchable’s Speed Dial feature.
Classic interfaces rely on grouped icons, typically on the edge of the window. Specific settings adjustments, like brush diameter or color saturation, are often buried in complex palettes or dialogs. This creates a constant battle between simplifying the interface and allowing quick access to desired features. Sketchable’s Speed Dial solves this by giving the nondominant hand control. This allows the traditional UI to melt away. Tasks like adjusting color, brush settings, canvas orientation, and undo or redo, can be achieved without taking your focus from your work. Facilitating a productive, intuitive, and fun experience.
One of the guiding design principals for Sketchable was the importance of delivering low latency, high fidelity interactions. With the Surface Dial, this is taken a step farther. Adjustments not only give real time feedback, they can be made while inking. This takes traditionally tedious tasks and brings them into the creative zone. Changing a color’s brightness or saturation to find the perfect shade, can be made in one stroke. Brush settings like diameter, feather, roundness, angle, etc… can be made without picking up the pen. This can be used to create interesting and useful effects or simply streamline the process. Simply put, this tightens that creative loop while enabling a intimate human interaction with your artwork.
