Defining Interaction Design

Simply put, interaction design is the definition and design of the behavior of artifacts, environments, and systems, as well as the formal elements that communicate that behavior. Unlike traditional design disciplines, whose focus has historically been on form and, more recently, on content and meaning, interaction design seeks first to plan and describe how things behave and then, as necessary, to describe the most effective form to communicate those behaviors (see Figure 1).

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Figure 1: Three dimensions of design. Design has traditionally focused on form and, more recently, on meaning and content. The newest dimension of design is behavior, how complex systems interact with humans.

Interaction design borrows theory and technique from traditional design, usability, and engineering disciplines. It is a synthesis, however—more than a sum of its parts—with its own unique methods and practices. It is also very much a design discipline, with a different approach than that of scientific and engineering disciplines.

In particular, interaction design is a discipline concerned with:

  • Defining the form of products as they relate to their behaviors and uses

  • Anticipating how the use of products will affect human relationships and understanding

  • Exploring the dialogue between products, people, and contexts (physical, cultural, historical) (Reimann and Forlizzi, 2001)

Interaction design approaches the design of products with a Goal-Directed perspective:

  • From an understanding of how and why people desire to use them

  • As an advocate for the users and their goals

  • As gestalts, not simply as sets of features and attributes

  • By looking to the future—seeing things as they might be, not necessarily as they currently are

Because the behaviors of complex systems are often not a matter of aesthetics, but rather one of cognitive factors and logical processes, interaction design is both amenable to and greatly aided by a systematic approach.

Interaction designers need, first and foremost, to understand the goals, motivations, and expectations (the mental models) of the people for whom they hope to design. These can best be understood as narratives—logical (or emotional) progressions over time.

In response to these narratives, designed artifacts must exhibit behavioral narratives of their own that mesh successfully with those of the user. Unlike most mechanical artifacts, which have only a few simple behaviors that become obvious upon inspection, software and other digital artifacts require interaction design because of the potential complexity of their behaviors. Software is opaque to inspection, yet its possible behaviors are almost limitless.

Some designers, entrenched in the design traditions of form (visual, audible, and tactile themes, patterns, styles, and idioms), argue that interactive elements should be treated as streams of sense data that change over time, similar to motion pictures, and may thus be fully described by traditional design methods. This argument, however, is seriously flawed: Although the form-oriented aspects of interaction design are obviously important, they are almost useless unless they are organized by effective and appropriate behaviors. Without a logical structure and a flow that facilitate solving the practical problems of users, form-oriented interactive design is, by itself, sensual titillation of questionable value.

To put it differently, sense data means nothing without the narrative that lets us make logical sense of it. Special effects alone do not make a movie; the narrative is also essential. This is even more valid for interactions with digital products because the dialogue is not between fictional creations observed by a third party. It is, instead, a first-person exchange of what Bill Buxton (1990) has called "non-verbal natural language" between the human and the designed artifact. The anticipation and design of this dialogue—this behavior—is the essence of interaction design.




About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 263

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