Interaction Design

Tony Scarlatos, Instructor

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 What is Interactive Design?

 Interaction Design (IxD) is the art of facilitating interactions between

people though products and services. Practitioners work in a field called UX
(User experience), which is similar to UI (User Interaction).
 It is a user-oriented field of study that focuses on
meaningful communication of media through cyclical and collaborative
processes between people and technology. (Wikipedia)
 It encompasses many fields, such as Industrial Design, Communications
Design, Service Design, and Human Factors.
 HCI is closely related to Interaction Design, but HCI methods are more
quantitative, and the focus is on how people interact with computers, not with
each other.
 Interactive Design is an art, an applied art, not a science. By nature its
solutions are contextual, not global.

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Interactive design diagram – Courtesy of Wikipedia

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Starting Points
1. The Design Brief is a document, usually from the client, that
identifies the reason for hiring the designer, states the nature of
the problem(s), and may even offer proposed solutions.
2. Business goals may be hard (quantifiable, like sales numbers) or
soft (branding).
3. Success metrics measure quantifiable data to show progress
toward the goal.
4. Constraints are often technical issues that define the options a
designer may have and the parameters they must work within.
Semiotics: the study of signs and symbols and their use or
interpretation

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Four Types of Design Approaches
1. User-Centered Design: “User knows best” - goals of
what user wants to accomplish become goals of the
design. Allows designer to set aside personal preference.
Emphasizes testing of prototypes with users, and often
surveys such as focus groups. Can be impractical for
very large user groups (millions). (Think of Microsoft).
2. Activity- (or Task-) Centered Design: Focus is on tasks,
not goals. More direct, focused on shorter term
objectives. Usability is often ignored. Explore example.

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Four Types of Design Approaches
1. Systems Design: Structured, rigorous design methodology
- holistic approach to design. Uses established
arrangement of components for solutions. Good for large
problems. Goal - Environment - Sensors - Disturbances -
Comparator - Actuator - Feedback – Controls
2. Genius Design: Relies on wisdom and experience of
designers to make decisions. Employs little or no research.
(Think of Apple Computer).

Design solutions often use a blend of these 4 approaches.

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Interactive Design Elements (self)
 Motion: Key to interaction. Objects that don't move don't
interact.
 Space: 2D and 3D. Interactions take place in a defined
space.
 Time: Interactions happen over time. Establishes a rhythm
to interaction.
 Appearance: Cues how to interact with an object. Also
conveys emotional content. Proportion - Structure - Size -
Shape - Weight – Color
 Sound: Alerts. Pitch - Volume

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Interaction Design Principles(self)
 Moore's Law: (Intel) Every 18 months, the number of transistors
on integrated circuits will double. Designers can expect devices
to be smaller, faster, cheaper and more powerful. Design for the
future... not for the now.
 Fitt's Law: The time it takes to move from a starting position to
the final target is determined by the distance to the target and
the size of the target. Relates to icon size (bigger), button
placement (edges of the screen) and contextual (pop-up) menus.
 Hick's Law: The time it takes for users to make decisions is
based on the number of choices they have. User will make
choices more quickly from 1 menu of 10 items than 2 menus of 5
items. Speed is also determined by familiarity of choices, and
format of choices.

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Interaction Design Principles (self)
 Magical Number 7: The human mind is able to remember
information best in chunks of 7 (plus or minus 2). For short-
term memory, information is best presented in chunks of 5
to 9 pieces. (George A. Miller of Harvard University)
 Tesler's Law: There is a point beyond which a process
cannot be simplified further, the complexity can only be
transferred from one place to another. Designers should
strive to distribute complexity broadly. (or law of UX)
 Poka-Yoke Principle: From the Japanese (Toyota)- avoiding
(yokeru) inadvertent errors (poka). Designers put
constraints on devices or products to prevent errors.
 (mistake proofing)
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Interaction Modes (self)
 Command languages: Rich, like language. Difficult to
remember. Prone to syntax and typing errors. Command
abbreviation can lead to ambiguity.
 Menu systems: Simpler. Easier to recall. Limits choices.
Elements of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) are
Windows, Icons, Menus, and Pointers (WIMP’s). Icon-driven
interfaces mitigate language and literacy barriers. Concepts
that are not literal are hard to represent with icons.
 Direct manipulation: Real time. Mimics natural interactions.
Demanding of the CPU.

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Feedback/forward & Good Interaction
Design (self)
 Feedback confirms actions taken by the user.
 Feedforward gives users an idea of the outcome before an
action is taken.
 Qualities of Good Interaction Design: Trustworthy -
Appropriate - Smart - Responsive - Clever - Ludic (playful) –
Pleasurable

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Design Research (already done by Salman)
 Investigating through various means a product or service's
potential or existing users and environment. To improve the
design of a product or service.
 Go to users' site. Talk to them, observe them. Make notes.
 Informed consent - Explain risks and benefits of study - Respect
subjects' privacy - Pay subjects for their time(?) - Provide data
and results to subjects if asked
 Observations: Fly on the wall - Shadowing - Contextual inquiry -
Undercover agent
 Interviews: Directed storytelling – “Unfocus group” (expert
focus group) - Role playing - Desk/purse/briefcase tour
 Research Subject Activities: Collaging - Modeling - Drawing
 Self reporting: Journals - Beeper studies - Photo/video journals

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 Design Process
 Tools: Diagramming software - Drawing/illustration software -
Prototyping software - Presentation software - Conversion
software

 Research Models: Linear flow - Circular flow - Spider diagram -

Venn diagram - 2X2 matrix – Map

 Personas: Documented set of specific people who are users or

likely users. Provides a “face” to user groups the designer is
developing for, but steers designers away from simple
demographics. Personas are unified more by relationship to the
product, motivations etc, than arbitrary distinctions like age, race,
and gender.

 Scenario: A narrative. A prototype of words. Story about what it

will be like to use the product or service. Actors are the Personas.
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 Design Process (self)
 Task analysis is a list of activities the final product will have to support.
Task flows are the order in which the activities will take place.
 Use case is a sketch of the functionality of a product or service
including the actors. Title - Actors - Purpose - Initial condition -
Terminal condition - Primary steps – Alternatives
 Wireframes are a set of documents that show structure, information
hierarchy, functionality, and content without visual or physical form.
(Sometimes called schematics). Most important besides prototype.
(Services don't have Wireframes - they have Service Blueprints). Used
by all members of the development team to determine content or
functionality of the proposed product they will have to contribute.
 Prototypes: Mock up of the proposed product. Used for working out
bugs and testing. Paper, Digital, and Physical are the types.

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Smart Applications & Clever Devices (self)
 Dumb Applications: Don't know the user, the environment, the
context - don't maintain state.
 Multitasking: Applications can collect usage data while
responding to user commands. Can be intrusive and
annoying.
 Customization and Personalization - Adaptation - to Achieve
Flow. Let users do - Orient - Let users win - Sense and
respond - Connect – Immerse
 Users customize the app to alter the appearance.
Personalization changes the function of the app.
 “Achieve Flow”: Dialog between user and product so they
adapt and respond to each other fluidly.

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Smart Applications & Clever Devices
 Adaptive: Create objects that learn, react, respond,
understand, perform tasks that have personal meaning. Can
be annoying. Users should be able to correct or modify
system assumptions.
 Hacking: Repurposing a product to fulfill an unanticipated
need. Can extend the usefulness of the product. Can also
be destructive. Can be managed through layering, where the
upper layers are “hackable”, and the lower (core) layers are
not.
 Ambient Devices: Also called “calm technologies”.
Unobtrusively present information that can be ignored by
the user. (a company)

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 Service Design
 A service is a chain of activities that form a process and have value
for an end user. The system is the service. Intangible - Provider
ownership - Co-created - Flexible - Time based - Active -
Fluctuating demand
 Touchpoint: any way a consumer can interact with a business. E.g. a shop is
a touchpoint.
 Services can be more easily designed to be environmentally good
than products. But people form stronger attachments to physical
objects than to intangible services.
 Services Vs. Products: Broader focus - designer must consider
environment, channel, touchpoint - in addition to artifact (‫)نمونے‬.
 Non-obvious stakeholders: Other businesses that leverage the
service but do not directly use it.

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 Service Design
 Process Map: High level view of the overall experience and
where the design work being done falls in the experience.
Similar to task flow. Indicates touch points.
 What is the difference b/w process flow and workflow?
 Service blueprints: It shows different people working.
 Service Moment: Ideally has a sketch or photograph showing
the design and the touchpoint.
 Prototyping Services: Create scenarios based on the service
blueprint and act them out. (Role playing).

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The Future of Interaction Design
 Internet will be ubiquitous, information will be contextual,
robots will perform tasks, intelligent agents will find
information.
 “Next Web”: New tools for search, read, filter, use, mix, and
connect. (a tech website)
 Intelligent Agents: Software that acts on our behalf
autonomously, by monitoring our behavior. Can use the
Internet more efficiently.
 Spimes: Networked, context- aware, self-monitoring, self -
documenting, uniquely identified objects that exude data
about themselves and their environments. Most likely will
have RFID tags. Privacy issues are a concern.
 a neologism for a futuristic object

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The Future of Interaction Design
 Transmedia: Content that crosses and leverages multiple
media channels.
 Wearable computing: Computing devices embedded in
clothing or worn on the body like jewelry, shoes, or
eyeglasses. Brings input from the outside world to the
user, or monitors the user.
 Ubiquitous Computing: Information systems embedded in
environments and artifacts all around the user.

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Questions
 Explore all Principles related to Interactive Design.
 What is the difference between Interactive Design and Interaction Design?
 What is the future of interactive design?
 Write a list of wearable computing devices.
 What are subdisciplines of Communication Designs?
 What is the goal of Human Factors?
 See my article: A Review on Ergonomic Computer Mouse Enabling Neutral Hand Position for Older
People
 What do you mean by Physical ergonomics?
 What is the difference between HCI and Interactive Design?
 Define these terms: WIMP’s, Icon-driven interfaces, literacy barriers, Personas, Task
Analysis, Task Flow, Ambient Devices, Calm Devices.
 What is spider diagram?
 What is the difference between smart devices and intelligent devices?

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