A method for augmenting a two-stage hand gesture input comprises receiving hand tracking data for a hand of a user. A gesture recognition machine recognizes that the user has performed a first-stage gesture based on one or more parameters derived from the received hand tracking data satisfying first-stage gesture criteria. An affordance cueing a second-stage gesture is provided to the user responsive to recognizing the first-stage gesture. The gesture recognition machine recognizes that the user has performed the second-stage gesture based on one or more parameters derived from the received hand tracking data satisfying second-stage gesture criteria. A graphical user interface element is displayed responsive to recognizing the second-stage gesture.