Chinese has over 50 000 characters. Chinese computer users need to learn specific methods to enter text with qwerty keyboards. Apple’s Chinese Input Suite combined handwriting and speech for text entry without complex keyboard input methods.
In my role a lead designer I studied user behaviors and developed novel input interaction approaches with users in China, Hong Kong, and Singapore and Japan. While based on leading edge recognition technology, the interface is simple and allows users to seamlessly switch between speaking and writing.
The shipping product was the world’s first multimodal input solution for the China market and awarded with the Silver Industrial Design Excellence by IDSA & BusinessWeek, 1997.