Amir Mirza

Human Centered Interaction Design & Problem Definition

Human-centered design is, at its heart, about interactions that involve people. Therefore, understanding the people who will use or be involved in your design intervention is crucial.

User experience is not about good industrial design, multi-touch, or fancy interfaces. It is about transcending the material. It is about creating an experience through a device.

Interaction Design is

UNDERSTANDING, NOT PROCESS DRIVEN & WITH STAKEHOLDERS, NOT FOR STAKEHOLDERS

BASED ON A CRITICAL & HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF SYSTEMS

ONTOLOGICAL, NOT ONTICAL (CONCERNED WITH REFRAMING PROBLEMS, NOT MERELY ANSWERING THEM)

EXPANSIVE & ITERATIVE

DETAIL ORIENTED

IT IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD THAT BORROWS FROM THE ARTIFICIAL SCIENCES, SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES

Focus on values, practices & cultures Making from the arts and applied sciences Research methods from the social and behavioral sciences Interactio n Design ETHOS CRAFTRESEARCH Anthropology Sociology Psychology Philosophy Critical Theory Visual Design Engineering Computer Science Cognitive Science Science & Technology Studies

Why? What? How? Why is what would motivate someone to use a particular product – what it adds to their experience. The What addresses the things people can do through an interactive product and is often intimately tied to the technology or product typology itself. The How is the typical realm of the interaction designer: to make given functionality accessible in an aesthetically pleasing way. IxD starts from the Why, tries to clarify the needs, wants, attitudes and behaviors in a context. Only then does it determines functionality that is able to provide the experience (the What) and an appropriate way of putting the functionality to action (the How).

The interaction design process focuses on involving your end users within the design process. Designers involve users within their process to get an understanding of what they want, narrow down the number of possible solutions, and test those solutions to find out if they work. Exploratory Phase Generative & Ideation Phase Development Phase Deployment & Evaluation Phase Ideation & Testing With Users Ethnographic Research Develop Prototype Problem Framing Narrow Down Solution Test & Evaluate Prototype Deploy Solution Incorporate Feedback and Iterate on prototype

The why leads to products which are sensitive to the particularities of human experience. It leads to products able to tell enjoyable stories through their use or consumption. It leads the designer to ask the question of how they would want to help people.