Your phone is locked and it should stay that way until you say otherwise. In my original ideation I was concerned with unlocking my phone quickly but I realized later that my phone is near and dear to my heart and I wouldn't want it to unlock for just anyone. Through refinement of my ideas I looked at options for keeping my phone securely locked while still providing an interesting and fun interface.
Touching your phone screen encompasses many different possibilities such as tapping, holding, releasing and dragging. These possibilities together with the option of single touch and multi-touch provide many options. I explored different ways of using these options with various interface elements to create a playful way to unlock your phone.
Ideation: Exploration of different touch techniques seen through a few sketches. Single finger tap. Single finger drag. 2-finger pinch.
Color is fun. Let's try to find a way to use color while still keeping my phone secure.
Refinement: Ways to pick color as a replacement for a PIN code.
A two-color picker for windows phone. Choose two secret colors that you need to match to unlock your phone. The lock screen is toy-like and fun to play with; have fun mixing colors to change the background.
Left: Selecting and playing with Colors
Right: These match the 2 secret colors needed to unlock the phone.
Mobile phones have a variety of physical sensors such as accellerometers, microphones and ambient light sensors. I explored how these different sensors could be used to help unlock my phone. I wanted the sensor unlock to be manageable one-handed and still have some security. My first ideas were to attempt to use the motion of the phone as a replacement for a regular PIN code.
Ideation: Attempting to use phone movement gestures as PIN codes
Just basing the PIN code on gestures led to ideas that required too much movement. I instead looked at a way to use the motion of the phone as a means of selection. To add to the accelerometer selection I again used color as a main theme to create an interesting abstract interface.
Refinement: Moved to the color theme. How can I use color as a means to secure my phone but still be able to use sensors to unlock it. A whole lot of shaking going on.
A color PIN code of sorts. Match your chosen secret colors four times in a row to unlock the phone. Tilt the phone in the direction of a color you know is one of your secret colors. Hold the button and the currently selected color fills the screen, release to select it.
The lock screen is also a fun little diversion; press the fingerprint to get random colors you can play with.
Left: Without pressing the fingerprint button you can see the colors move as you move your phone.
Right: Hold down the button and the largest color fills the screen. This is the color you will select when releasing the button.
Get it!
* Source from https://github.com/tthmok/WPUnlock
* Download whole zip from https://github.com/tthmok/WPUnlock/archive/master.zip
* The source may cause the designer view to crash in Visual Studio but the code should still compile and run