Four Approaches to Interaction Design

Once the designer has a problem (or, in designspeak, an opportunity) and has examined it from several angles to determine what lies at the core of the situation, the designer is ready to start finding a solution. There are four major approaches to finding solutions. All four have been used to create successful products, and it is typically up to designers to use the ones that work best for them. A few assertions apply to all these approaches:

• They can be used in many different situations to create vastly different products and services, from Web sites to consumer electronics to nondigital services.

• Most problematic situations can be improved by deploying at least one of these approaches to solving the problem.

• The best designers are those who can move between approaches, applying the best approach to the situation, and sometimes applying multiple approaches even within a single project.

• An individual designer will probably gravitate toward one of these approaches more than others. Some of these approaches simply may feel wrong. Designers generally work with the approaches they feel most comfortable employing. At different times, however, another approach may be the best way to solve a design problem, so it is important that interaction designers know all four approaches.

The four approaches are these:

• User-centered design (UCD)

• Activity-centered design

• Systems design

• Genius design

Table 2.1 provides a quick comparison of the four approaches.

Table 2.1. Four Approaches to Design

Approach	Overview	Users	Designer
User-Centered Design	Focuses on user needs and goals	Guide the design	Translates user needs and goals
Activity-Centered Design	Focuses on the tasks and activities that need to be accomplished	Perform the activities	Creates tools for actions
Systems Design	Focuses on the components of a system	Set the goals of the system	Makes sure all the parts of the system are in place
Genius Design	Relies on the skill and wisdom of designers used to make products	Source of validation	Is the source of inspiration

We'll look in detail at each of these approaches, starting with the one that is currently the most popular: user-centered design.