The iPhone has introduced new ways of interacting with devices such as tapping, pinching, and scrolling, actions that we don’t typically perform in our analog lives and ones we didn’t make at all until smartphones came along.

Royal College of Art student Gabriele Meldaikyte has translated these multi-touch gestures into 3D analog objects for a series that teaches us more about interaction design, like the project that visualized the gestures in Angry Birds.

Meldaikyte commented:

Nowadays, finger gestures like tap / scroll / flick / swipe / pinch are considered to be ‘signatures’ of the Apple iPhone. I believe that in ten years or so these gestures will completely change. Therefore, my aim is to perpetuate them so they become accessible for future generations. I have translated this interface language of communication into 3D objects which mimic every multi-touch gesture. My project is an interactive experience, where visitors can play, learn and be part of the exhibition.

Dezeen reports that Meldaikyte created the five objects out of wood and acrylic, and used newspaper clippings, book pages, and paper maps to represent the data being manipulated. They were shown at the Victoria and Albert museum in November. Click through to see the multi-touch 3D objects:

Gabriele Meldaikyte