Texterial: A Text-as-Material Interaction Paradigm for LLM-Mediated Writing
This work expands the design space of writing tools for users by treating text as a malleable medium, though it is incremental in applying existing AI capabilities to new interfaces.
The paper tackles the problem of rigid, linear interfaces in LLM-mediated writing by introducing Texterial, a text-as-material interaction paradigm that allows users to sculpt and grow text like clay or plants, with a formative study showing users readily adopt this metaphor.
What if text could be sculpted and refined like clay -- or cultivated and pruned like a plant? Texterial reimagines text as a material that users can grow, sculpt, and transform. Current generative-AI models enable rich text operations, yet rigid, linear interfaces often mask such capabilities. We explore how the text-as-material metaphor can reveal AI-enabled operations, reshape the writing process, and foster compelling user experiences. A formative study shows that users readily reason with text-as-material, informing a conceptual framework that explains how material metaphors shift mental models and bridge gulfs of envisioning, execution, and evaluation in LLM-mediated writing. We present the design and evaluation of two technical probes: Text as Clay, where users refine text through gestural sculpting, and Text as Plants, where ideas grow serendipitously over time. This work expands the design space of writing tools by treating text as a living, malleable medium.