Oliver Nowak
Research Assistant
Room 2.83
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+49 241 80-21074
I'm a research assistant at the Chair of Computer Science 10, RWTH Aachen University. In my research, I'm focussing on developing design guidelines for integrated controls in everyday objects in the home to control smart home devices.
Research Projects
Software Projects
Teaching
| Semester | Course |
|---|---|
| Summer 2025 | Seminar: Post-Desktop User Interfaces |
| Winter 2024 | Seminar: Post-Desktop User Interfaces |
| Summer 2024 | Designing Interactive Systems 2 |
| Winter 2023 | Designing Interactive Systems I |
| Summer 2023 | Designing Interactive Systems 2 |
| Winter 2022 | iOS Application Development |
| Summer 2022 | Proseminar: Human-Computer Interaction |
| Winter 2021 | Designing Interactive Systems I |
| Summer 2021 | Current Topics in Media Computing and HCI |
| Winter 2020 | Designing Interactive Systems I |
| Summer 2020 | Seminar: Post-Desktop User Interfaces |
| Winter 2019 | Designing Interactive Systems I |
| Summer 2019 | Current Topics in Media Computing and HCI |
Thesis Supervisions
| Name | Topic | Thesis Type | Year |
| René Schäfer | Redesigning ARPen: Evaluating Different Marker Placements for Mid-Air Pen Interaction | Master's Thesis | Winter 2019 |
| Georg Röhl | Tilt-Watch: Inclination-Based Smartwatch Input in Relation to the Forearm | Master's Thesis | Summer 2020 |
| Maurice Schwarze | Non-Linear Menus: A Comparison of Linear and Non-Linear Menus on Mobile Devices | Bachelor's Thesis |
Summer 2020 |
| Markus Horlemann | PaperOrganizer: A Visual Bibliography to Support Structuring Scientific Literature | Bachelor's Thesis |
Winter 2020 |
| Mahsa Mansouri | The Taxonomy of Indoor Home Interfaces | Bachelor's Thesis |
Summer 2021 |
| Mathis Beck | AirPixel: Prototyping a Pneumatically Actuated Shape Display with a Textile Surface | Bachelor's Thesis |
Summer 2021 |
| Yeganeh Hajimiri | I can say “Navigate me there”: A Comparison of Different Interface Designs to Improve the Discoverability of Multimodal Interaction Techniques | Master's Thesis |
Summer 2021 |
| Kevin Fiedler | A WYSIWYG content editor for the Centre Charlemagne App | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2021 |
| Sebastian Pettirsch | Evaluating Out-of-Sight Textile User Interfaces for Multiple Devices | Master's Thesis | Winter 2021 |
| Fabian Friedrichs | Unused sides: Discovering the potential of unused surfaces in the home | Master's Thesis | Winter 2021 |
| Lovis Suchmann | Textile Icons: Design Guidelines for Recognizable Signifier for Out-of-Sight Textile User Interfaces | Master's Thesis | Winter 2021 |
| Nikita Huber | Avoiding Accidental Input: Evaluating Activation and Confirmation Techniques on Textile Sliders | Bachelor's Thesis | Winter 2021 |
| Michelle Mirus | Designing Tactile Guides for Smart Home Controls | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2022 |
| Elisabeth Jane Buttkus | Measuring Perceived Haptic Similarities Between Textile Icons | Bachelor's Thesis | Winter 2022 |
| Jasmin El Qoraichi | Ansteuerung von Smart Textiles mit Orts- und Bewegungsdaten aus der VR | Bachelor's Thesis | Winter 2022 |
| Thomas Becker | End User Perspective on Using Everyday Objects for Smart Home Input | Master's Thesis | Summer 2023 |
| Saad Safan | Entwicklung einer benutzerfreundlichen Software-Schnittstelle zur Interaktion von Benutzern mit Smart Textiles | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2023 |
| Maurice Schwarze | People's Understanding of Textile User Interfaces with Different Complexity | Master's Thesis | Winter 2023 |
| Erik Müller | Finding the Limits of Textile Interface Design Guidelines | Bachelor's Thesis | Winter 2023 |
| Erik Østlyngen | Textile Interface in Real-Life | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2024 |
| Julian Wallerius | Grablets: Enabling Twist and Fold Interactions with Textile Icons | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2024 |
| Lucy Plaßmann | Investigating the Influence of Interface Familiarization on the Performance When Using Textile Interfaces | Bachelor's Thesis | Summer 2024 |
| Jennifer Drew | Foldlets: String-Actuated Shape Change for Disappearing Textile Interfaces | Master's Thesis | Summer 2025 |
Publications
- Paul Preuschoff, Raghad Zaghal, Oliver Nowak and Jan Borchers. Groups and AI: How Access to Generative AI Influences Creative Teamwork. In Proceedings of Mensch und Computer, MuC '25, Association for Computing Machinery, August 2025.
- Oliver Nowak, Erik Müller, Sarah Sahabi and Jan Borchers. Towards Textile User Interface Design Guidelines for Eyes-free Use. In Proceedings of DIS '25 Companion: Companion Publication of the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference, Funchal, Madeira, DIS Companion '25 (Forthcoming), Association for Computing Machinery, July 2025.
- Oliver Nowak, René Schäfer, Elisabeth Jane Buttkus, Lea Emilia Schirp, Heiko Müller and Jan Borchers. Investigating Eyes-Free Recognition and Distinguishability of Textile Icons in Pairs. In Proceedings of the Nineteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction, TEI '25, pages 13, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, March 2025.
- Oliver Nowak, Lennart Becker, Sebastian Pettirsch and Jan Borchers. Mappings in the Home: Selecting Home Appliances in 3D Space. In Extended Abstracts of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '24, pages 7, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, May 2024.
- Jan Borchers, Anke Brocker, Sebastian Hueber, Oliver Nowak, René Schäfer, Adrian Wagner, Paul Miles Preuschoff and Lea Emilia Schirp. The Aachen Lab Demo: From Fundamental Perception to Design Tools. In Extended Abstracts of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA '23, pages 4, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2023.
- René Schäfer, Oliver Nowak, Lovis Bero Suchmann, Sören Schröder and Jan Borchers. What’s That Shape? Investigating Eyes-Free Recognition of Textile Icons. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '23, pages 12, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2023.
- Oliver Nowak, René Schäfer, Anke Brocker, Philipp Wacker and Jan Borchers. Shaping Textile Sliders: An Evaluation of Form Factors and Tick Marks for Textile Sliders. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '22, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, April 2022.
- Philipp Wacker, Oliver Nowak, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. Evaluating Menu Techniques for Handheld AR with a Smartphone & Mid-Air Pen. In Proceedings of 22nd International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services, MobileHCI '20, pages 10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, October 2020.
- Philipp Wacker, Oliver Nowak, Simon Voelker and Jan Borchers. ARPen: Mid-Air Object Manipulation Techniques for a Bimanual AR System with Pen & Smartphone. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '19, pages 619:1–619:10, ACM, New York, NY, USA, May 2019.
- Oliver Nowak. ARMenus: An Evaluation of Menu Interfaces in Pen-based AR Applications on Smartphones. Master's Thesis, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, February 2019.