1. Design for Fingers, not Cursors

   Touch targets need to be much larger than for desktop: 8-10mm for tips, 10-14mm for finger pads.
   

2. Remember physiology and kinesiology

   Don’t make users do overextensions or repetitive tasks.
   

3. No gorilla arm

   Humans weren’t meant to do many tasks with hands up in front of their bodies for long periods of time. Sorry Minority Report.
   

4. Screen coverage

   Fingers are attached to a palm, which can cover the screen while you are trying to do a gesture. Avoid putting essential elements like labels below a control, as it can be obscured by the user’s own hand. Place items like menus at the bottom of the screen to avoid this phenomenon.
   

5. Know the technology

   The kind of touchscreen, sensor or camera determines the kind of gestures you can design for.
   
   The more challenging the gesture, the fewer people who will be able to (or want to) perform it.
   

6. Trigger actions on release, not on press

7. Attraction affordance

   Use a simple gesture to get users to start using the system.
   

8. Avoid unintentional triggers

   A variety of everyday movements on the user’s part can accidentally trigger the system. Avoid.
   

9. Gestures and Command Keys

   Provide an easy (buttons, sliders, menu items, etc.) ways to access functionality, but provide advanced, learnable gestures as shortcuts.
   

10. Requisite variety

    There’s a wide range of ways to perform any gesture. Account for that.
    

11. Match the complexity of the gesture to the complexity and frequency of the task

    Simple, frequently used tasks should have equally simple gestures to trigger them.