Digital media & interaction design LECTURE 1

LECTURE OUTLINE Introduction to interaction Design Interaction and interface Good vs poor design From HCI to Interaction Design Brief conceptual Background of HCI User Experience Design

Introduction to interaction Design What is interaction Design(IxD) ? The term interaction design was first coined by Bill Moggridge and Bill Verplank in the mid-1980s. It would be another 10 years before other designers rediscovered the term and started using it.  Designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact in their everyday and working lives Sharp, Rogers and Preece (2011) The design of spaces for human communication and interaction Winograd (1997)

Interaction and interface What is an interface? An interface is anything that connects the user and device, anything that offers itself up for interaction. This could be a physical interface like a computer keyboard or a mouse, to a computer graphical interface (GUI), which could be Photoshop etc. You could even consider that an ATM machine is an interface for it allows one to connect to a computer system to allow the transaction of money.

Good vs Poor design This screenshot shows a classic example of lack of prioritization. Everything is competing for attention, resulting in a visual clutter. Too much information can be confusing, tiring, and can drive users/customers away. The common-sense solution is to be as informative as possible while prioritizing what is most important to most users. Frome:interaction-design.org

Good and bad design What is wrong with the remote on the right? Why is the TiVo remote so much better designed? Peanut shaped to fit in hand Logical layout and color- coded, distinctive buttons Easy to locate buttons 7 www.id-book.com 7

From HCI to Interaction Design Human Computer Interaction, HCI, is the interaction of a human between a computer. This can be simply a person using a keyboard, which is in its simplest form, interacting with a computer.

HCI and interaction design 10 www.id-book.com 10

Relationship between ID, HCI and other fields Design practices contributing to ID: Graphic design Product design Artist-design Industrial design Film industry 11 www.id-book.com 11

Relationship between ID, HCI and other fields Interdisciplinary fields in interaction design: HCI Ubiquitous Computing Human Factors Cognitive Engineering Cognitive Ergonomics Computer Supported Co-operative Work Information Systems 12 www.id-book.com 12

Need to take into account: What to design Need to take into account: Who the users are What activities are being carried out Where the interaction is taking place Need to optimize the interactions users have with a product So that they match the users’ activities and needs 13 www.id-book.com 13

Goals of interaction design Develop usable products Usability means easy to learn, effective to use and provide an enjoyable experience Involve users in the design process 14 www.id-book.com 14

Which kind of design? Number of other terms used emphasizing what is being designed, e.g. user interface design, software design, user-centered design, product design, web design, experience design (UX) Interaction design is the umbrella term covering all of these aspects fundamental to all disciplines, fields, and approaches concerned with researching and designing computer- based systems for people 15 www.id-book.com 15

Understanding users’ needs Need to take into account what people are good and bad at Consider what might help people in the way they currently do things Think through what might provide quality user experiences Listen to what people want and get them involved Use tried and tested user-centered methods 16 www.id-book.com 16

Working in multidisciplinary teams Many people from different backgrounds involved Different perspectives and ways of seeing and talking about things Benefits more ideas and designs generated Disadvantages difficult to communicate and progress forward the designs being create 17 www.id-book.com 17

What do professionals do in the ID business? interaction designers - people involved in the design of all the interactive aspects of a product usability engineers - people who focus on evaluating products, using usability methods and principles web designers - people who develop and create the visual design of websites, such as layouts information architects - people who come up with ideas of how to plan and structure interactive products user experience designers (UX) - people who do all the above but who may also carry out field studies to inform the design of products 18 www.id-book.com 18

The User Experience How a product behaves and is used by people in the real world the way people feel about it and their pleasure and satisfaction when using it, looking at it, holding it, and opening or closing it “every product that is used by someone has a user experience: newspapers, ketchup bottles, reclining armchairs, cardigan sweaters.” (Garrett, 2003) Those who work on UX (called UX designers) study and evaluate how users feel about a system, looking at such things as ease of use, perception of the value of the system, utility, efficiency in performing tasks and so forth. Cannot design a user experience, only design for a user experience 19 www.id-book.com 19

The iPod Nano Touch 20 www.id-book.com

Why was the iPod user experience such a success? Quality user experience from the start Simple, elegant, distinct brand, pleasurable, must have fashion item, catchy names, cool, etc., 21 www.id-book.com 21

What is involved in the process of interaction design Establishing requirements Developing alternatives Prototyping Evaluating 22 www.id-book.com 22

Core characteristics of interaction design users should be involved through the development of the project specific usability and user experience goals need to be identified, clearly documented and agreed at the beginning of the project iteration is needed through the core activities 23 www.id-book.com 23

bibliographic reference list: www.id-book.com Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction  by Helen Sharp Lowgren, Jonas (2013): Interaction Design - brief intro. In: Soegaard, Mads and Dam, Rikke Friis (eds.). "The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2nd Ed.". Aarhus, Denmark: The Interaction Design Foundation. Available online at http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/interaction_design.html http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2010/10/05/what-is-user-experience-design-overview-tools-and-resources/