(Illustrated above) A scientist selects a particular data point within one specific group of clinical results being displayed in her analysis application. She then applies a meaningful color code to that single point, before zooming upward to view it in the context of a much larger set of data, containing hundreds of brightly colored result groups that form massive clouds of individual data points.

A financial trader selects all of the components of a large trade proposal so that he can apply the same rate across each security. He then chooses a few higher value securities and adjusts their individual rates upward in order to balance out the overall deal to reflect market realities.

An architect selects a specific segment of a large exterior wall in her building modeling application. She then applies a functional attribute to it, and the computing tool presents her options to either apply the same property to all wall segments tagged in the same class or to create a new class as part of applying the material trait.

What new opportunities for large scale action could provide value in the work practices that your team is striving to mediate?

Looking across your sketched functionality concepts, how might you categorize the different levels of scope that a single interactive action could have?

What useful conceptual models could shape your design ideas about various levels of interaction scope?

How might identified levels of scope be clearly represented in corresponding levels of selection?

What commonly understood selection conventions could your team usefully apply throughout your application concepts?

What novel selection approaches might your team envision based on your ideas about particular, nonstandard selection scenarios?

How might different levels of selection drive the contextual presentation of targeted, goal oriented avenues of action?

What visual cues, instructive messaging, and behavioral constraints could prevent unexpected and unwanted effects that would otherwise cascade via unrecognized linkages between interrelated interaction objects?

How might an interaction’s concluding feedback convey the scope of objects that it impacted? How could this messaging, in conjunction with undo functionality, turn into another form of error prevention?

How might your team envision the graphical depictions of selection cues as an overall system that is a complementary element of a larger aesthetic direction and brand?

Do you have enough information to usefully answer these and other envisioning questions? What additional research, problem space models, and design concepting could valuably inform your team’s application envisioning efforts?