It’s kind of odd to think that the multifaceted and highly complex functions of an iPhone are commanded universally by, and reducible to, 5 simple gestures: tap, scroll, flick, swipe and pinch. However design student, Gabrielè Meldaikyte, believes that in 10 years, these movements will be obsolete so, in order to preserve and make them accessible to future generations, she has translated this ‘interface language of communication’ into 3D objects that represent each of the gestures.

By physically reifying the iPhone commands, and through a desire to archive them, Gabrielè Meldaikyte raises interesting questions about the ephemerality of things that seem second nature. She also points out that this project could be seen as ‘ironic’ in that these gestures have in fact proceeded from tapping keyboards, turning pages and so forth.

Multi-Touch Gestures emerged from her thinking around ‘one-handedness’, the subject of Gabrielè’s final MA project at the Royal College Of Art in London, and was presented at the V&A.