Map / Characters

Chapter 3: Interaction Design Basics

The Elements of Interaction Design:



Motion - What moves and gains the users attention and interaction through motion.

Space - The space between objects of interactivity.  The relationship between the objects that influence the interactivity and success of the design.

Time - Consists of three basic foundations:  Pace, Reaction, Context.  Pace is how fast or slow, reaction is the reaction time to a given interactivity, and context is in what space or place the interactivity takes place.

Appearance - The way a design looks.  The way interactive design looks can be either harmonious or dissonant.

 

Texture - The way interactive designed objects feels in your hand

The Laws of Interaction Design:

Moore's Law - Every 2 years the number of transistors on integrated circuits will double. This law can't really interaction designers, but they should be aware of it. And so far, this law has proved true.

Fitts' Law - The time it takes to move from a starting position to the final target is determined by two factors: the distance and size of the target. The larger and closer a target the faster it can be pointed to. Buttons should be large, menus should be along the corners or edge of a page, and pop-up menus should open close to where the user is working. Right click menus are more accessible than drop-down menus at the top of a page.

Hick's Law - The time it takes for users to make decisions is determined by the number of possible choices they have. It's also affected by familiarity and format of choices.

Magic Number Seven - The human mind is best able to remember groups of 7 items in short term. Some designers take it to the extreme never having any more than 7 items on a screen, but this isn't what the law is about. A device or site should never test anyone to remember more than seven items at a time in a short amount of time. When looking for an example of this I noticed websites of several artists where only seven items were on the screen.

Tesler's Law - There's a point beyond which you can't simplify any further, you can only move the inherent complexity from one place to another. Designers should be aware of this and look for sensible ways to move the complexities. Websites like Google really can't get any simpler without doing their job. The search engine even tries to guess what you're typing so you might find what you're looking for faster.

Poka-Yoke Principle - Avoiding inadvertent errors, usually by forcing users to adjust their behavior to execute operations correctly. An example is USB cords are made to fit only where they are supposed to be plugged in instead of fitting where the headphones should go. Another example used by web designers is pop-ups informing the necessity of Flash of Javascript to view a page.

Direct and Indirect Manipulation - Direct: Selecting an object with the mouse or hand and then manipulating it: move it, turn it, scale it, change color. Indirect: Using the menu or keys on the keyboard to indirectly manipulate an object.

Feedback and Feedforward - Every action conducted by a user should result in some type of feedback (Ex. Moving the mouse should move the cursor.) It's up to the designer to determine how a product will respond and how fast. Feedforward lets user know what will happen next.


Characteristics of Good Interaction Design:

Trustworthy – user’s satisfaction in knowing that their product will function properly without malfunctioning right away.

 

Appropriate – focuses on gearing the product’s design with an understanding of culture, customs, sex, and age.

Smart – products/services are designed to be smarter than the user so that it may answer/solve problems efficiently/effectively.

Responsive – responds accordingly to user’s request.

Clever - a useful feature that the user may not have realized they needed but enjoys its purpose.

Ludic – service/product playful and gives the user the environment and means to play with a product.

Pleasurable – a well-designed product that makes a product enjoyable, reliable, and pleasurable.

 

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Spend time in Lynda: CS5 Flash Professional Essential Training

Chapter 2: The Four Approaches to Design

**THE BEST DESIGNERS MOVE BETWEEN APPROACHES**

DESIGN APPROACH	OVERVIEW	USERS	DESIGNER
User-centered	Focus on user needs/goals	The guides of design	Translator of user needs/goals
Activity-centered	Focus on the tasks and the activities that need to be accomplished	Performers of activities	Creates tools for actions
Systems	Focus on system’s components	Set the goals of the system	Makes sure all the parts of the system are in one place
Genius	Skill & wisdom of designers used to make products	Source of validation	The source of inspiration

User-centered

Activity-centered

Systems

Genius

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

PROJECT 1: Craigslist Redesign

CHAPTER 1: What is Interaction Design?

Good Interaction Design:

            - ATM withdrawals w/ a few touches on screen

            - computer games

            - E-Shopping

            - social networking via mobile phone/tablets

            - cutting & pasting cells within a document

Poor Interaction Design:

            - self-checkout experience delayed    

- car breaks down w/ no way of knowing what’s wrong

- can’t sync songs to iPod

- difficulty using GPS voice recognition feature

INTERACTION DESIGN – connecting people through the products

            *BILL MOGGRIDGE* - industrial designer – coined term in 1990

                        -Native Americans & tribes before them created Interactive Design

                                    - smoke signals            - cairns

“Interaction design is about behavior, and behavior is much harder to understand than appearance.”

Interaction – transaction between two or more entities – exchanging info, goods, or services

3 WAYS OF LOOKING AT INTERACTION DESIGN

            1. Technology-centered view – useful & pleasurable to use

2. Behaviorist view – focuses on functionality & feedback: how products behave     

    and provide feedback based on what the people engaged w/ them are doing.

3. Social Interaction Design view – facilitates communication between humans

through products. i.e. one-to-one phone call, one-to-many blog post, many-to-many stock market.

“Design is to design a design to produce a design”

Designers focus on users, find & use different methodologies, use ideas & prototypes, collaborate, become inspired & influenced, address problems & constraints, CREATE SOLUTIONS, & incorporate feelings/emotions.

Consumers had to adjust to the advancement of technology. As time progressed, we found and are still finding new uses for technology [old & new].

Interaction Design was created to deter away from any annoyances and inconveniences from poorly designed products. ID ensures that products are useful, usable, engaging, & enjoyable. ID also created new forms of interaction – social networks, Internet browsers, blogging, gaming, etc.