The problem

Have you ever been on a plane, or at church, or in a car seated next to somebody who appears a little interested in your text messages? Maybe you want to write a message about this person to somebody else, but you can’t because they might see it, and so instead of connecting with somebody, you remain silent.

Proposed solution (Updated 10/30/2016)

Why not place the phone keyboard at the top of the screen? This way, users can type messages while covering the screen with their palms.

In thinking about this problem more, I wanted to also explore some ideas around screenless or wearable (at least for the sender) interactions. The sender could have a wearable that allows them to tap morse code, enter some shorthand gestures, or draw letters.

Anticipated UX ramifications

Hiding the message dialog from the view of others also hides it from the user’s view. This may result in an increase in typographical errors, which may increase frustration.

Prototyping

I will broadcast a live sketching session around this idea and post the resulting sketches here. Follow me on twitter for a heads-up on when this will happen.

Want to use this idea? Seen this somewhere already?

I’m releasing these ideas to the internet in hopes that they’ll inspire some creativity. If you like the idea, or know somewhere it’s already in use, feel free to leave a comment! If you want to use this idea in your product, reach out to me. I’d love to help you integrate it.

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