1.2: Interaction Design

• Interaction design is defined as designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact in their everyday & working lives.
• The main difference between HCI and interaction design is its scope.
• HCI has a narrow focus on the design & usability of computing systems.
• Interaction design is concerned with the theory, research, & practice of designing UXs for all manner of technologies, systems, and products.
• The main concern of interaction design is for a product to be usable.
• User Experience refers to how a product behaves and is used by people in the real world.
• UX sometimes referred to by designers as UXD, where D is added to encourage design thinking that focuses on the quality of the user experience rather than the set of design methods to use.
• Important aspects of the user experience:

  • usability
  • functionality
  • aesthetics
  • content
  • look and feel
  • emotional appeal
• Other aspects of UX also include (Jack Carroll, 2004):

  • fun
  • health
  • social capital - social resources that develop and are maintained through social networks and shared values, goals, and norms
  • cultural identity - i.e. age, ethnicity, race, etc.
• Most well known model of the user experience by Marc Hassenzahl (2010):

  Pragmatic & Hedonic aspects.
• Dieter Rams' ten principles for identifying good and bad designs.

  Good design is:

  • innovative
  • makes a product useful
  • aesthetic
  • makes a product understandable
  • unobtrusive (not attracting attention)
  • honest
  • long-lasting
  • thorough down to the last detail
  • environmentally-friendly
  • as little design as possible
• Sensual thread:

  • concerned with our sensory engagement with a situation
  • can be equated with the level of absorption people have with various technological devices & applications
  • can involve thrill, fear, pain, & comfort
• Emotional Thread:

  • points out how emotions are intertwined with the situation in which they arise
  • common examples include sorrow, anger, joy, & happiness
• Compositional Thread:

  • concerned with the narrative part of an experience as it unfolds, and how a person makes sense of it
• Spatio-Temporal Thread:

  • refers to the space & time in which our experiences take place and their effect upon those experiences