CHAPTER 1: INTERACTION DESIGN  It is designing interactive products to support the way people communicate and interact

in their everyday and working lives. It is about creating user experiences that enhance
and augment the way people work, communicate, and interact.
1.1 Introduction  It is designing spaces for human communication and interaction.
 Interaction design is generally used as the overarching term to describe the field,
including its methods, theories, and approaches. UX is used more widely in industry to
refer to the profession. However, the terms can be used interchangeably.
Many products that require users to interact with them, such as smartphones and fitness trackers,
have been designed primarily with the user in mind. They are generally easy and enjoyable to use.
Others have not necessarily been designed with the users in mind; rather, they have been
The Components of Interaction Design
engineered primarily as software systems to perform set functions.

We use the term interactive products generically to refer to all classes of interactive
systems, technologies, environments, tools, applications, services, and devices.

1.2 Good and Bad Design

A central concern of interaction design is to develop interactive products that are usable. By this
we mean products that are generally:
 easy to learn,
 effective to use, and
 provide an enjoyable user experience.

A good place to start thinking about how to design usable interactive products is to compare
examples of well-designed and poorly designed ones. Through identifying the specific weaknesses
and strengths of different interactive products, we can begin to understand what it means for
Figure 1.1 Relationship among contributing academic disciplines, design practices, and
something to be usable or not.
interdisciplinary fields concerned with interaction design (double-headed arrows mean overlapping)

People Involved in Interaction Design

What to Design
 Interaction design is ideally carried out by multidisciplinary teams, where the skill
Designing interactive products requires considering:
sets of engineers, designers, programmers, psychologists, anthropologists,
 who is going to be using them,
sociologists, marketing people, artists, toy makers, product managers, and others
 how they are going to be used, and are drawn upon. It is rarely the case, however, that a design team would have all
 where they are going to be used. these professionals working together. People to include in a team will depend on
several factors, including a company’s design philosophy, size, purpose, and product
Another key concern is to understand the kind of activities people are doing when interacting with line.
these products.
 One of the benefits of bringing together people with different backgrounds and
1.3 Overview of Interaction Design training is the potential of many more ideas being generated, new methods
developed, and more creative and original designs being produced. and ways of
seeing and talking about the world.
Definition of Interaction Design
 1.4 The User Experience Community Participation Technology Solutions

Visual Disability Reading print (textbooks, Text to speech

Definition of User Experience instructions, documents)
(Including color, blindness, Braille display
 The user experience refers to how a product behaves and is used by people in the real complete visual impairment,
world. and low vision) Voice recognition
 It is about how people feel about a product and their pleasure and satisfaction when using
it, looking at it, holding it, and opening or closing it. Screen magnifier
 It is important to point out that one cannot design a user experience, only design for a
user experience. One cannot design a sensual experience, but only create the design Adjustable screen brightness
features that can evoke it.
Locomotive Disability Using physical spaces Voice recognition system
Aspects to Consider in User Experience
 the usability,
(Lower limbs and hand Writing tools (pen, pencil, Joystick and adaptable mouse
 functionality,
 aesthetics, disability) keyboard, mouse)
Eye gaze to control devices
 content,
 look and feel,
 and emotional appeal. Hearing Impairment Perception of auditory Captions and subtitles for
information videos
(Complete loss of hearing and
1.5 Understanding Users partial/single hear Communication with others Text messaging
impairment) (clients, educators, or
government personnel) Vibrations alerts
 A main reason for having a better understanding of people in the contexts in which they live,
Screen blinks for notifications
work, and learn is that it can help designers understand how to design interactive products
that provide good user experiences or match a user’s needs.
 Understanding individual differences can also help designers appreciate that one size does not Cognitive Impairment Difficulty in remembering Text to speech
fit all; what works for one user group may be totally inappropriate for another.
 Learning more about people and what they do can also reveal incorrect assumptions that (Memory, attention, Difficulty in textual Voice output
designers may have about user groups and what they need. communication, analytical information
 Being aware of cultural differences is also an important concern for interaction design, thinking, and reading) Applications that mimic speech
particularly for products intended for a diverse range of user groups from different countries. and games

1.6 Accessibility and Inclusiveness

Accessibility can be achieved in two ways:
 first, through the inclusive design of technology, and
Accessibility refers to the extent to which an interactive product is accessible by as many people as  second, through the design of assistive technology.
possible. The focus is on people with disabilities. There are various types of difficulties that fall into
four categories that we are going to discuss below:
Inclusiveness means being fair, open, and equal to everyone. Inclusive design is an overarching
approach where designers strive to make their products and services accommodate the widest
possible number of people.
Disability Category Examples of Barriers in Examples of Accessible 1.7 Usability and User Experience Goals
 Engaging Challenging Surprising

Pleasurable Enhancing sociability Rewarding

Usability Goals
Usability refers to ensuring that interactive products are easy to learn, effective to use, and Exciting Supporting creativity Emotionally fulfilling
enjoyable from the user’s perspective. It involves optimizing the interactions people have with
interactive products to enable them to carry out their activities at work, at school, and in their
Entertaining Cognitively stimulating Experiencing flow
everyday lives.

General goal, and it refers to how good a product is at doing Undesirable aspects
Effective to use (effectiveness)
what it is supposed to do.
Boring Unpleasant
Refers to the way a product supports users in carrying out
Efficient to use (efficiency) Frustrating Patronizing
their tasks.

Involves protecting the user from dangerous conditions and Making one feel guilty Making one feel stupid
Safe to use (safety)
undesirable situations.
Annoying Cutesy
Refers to the extent to which the product provides the right
Having good utility (utility) kind of functionality so that users can do what they need or Childish Gimmicky
want to do.

Easy to learn (learnability) Refers to how easy a system is to learn to use. Table 1.1 Desirable and undesirable aspects of the user experience

The process of selecting terms that best convey a user’s feelings, state of being, emotions,
Easy to remember how to use Refers to how easy a product is to remember how to use, sensations, and so forth when using or interacting with a product at a given time and place can help
(memorability) once learned. designers understand the multifaceted and changing nature of the user experience.

Design Principles
Table 1.1 Six usability goals Design principles are used by interaction designers to aid their thinking when designing for the
user experience. Design principles are derived from a mix of theory-based knowledge, experience,
and common sense. They tend to be written in a prescriptive manner, suggesting to designers what
User Experience Goals to provide and what to avoid at the interface—if you like, the dos and don’ts of interaction design.
A diversity of user experience goals has been articulated in interaction design, which covers a range
of emotions and felt experiences. Most common design principles:

Desirable aspects 1. Visibility – the basic principle that the more visible an element is, the more likely users
will know about them and how to use them. Equally important is the opposite: when
something is out of sight, it’s difficult to know about and use.
Satisfying Helpful Fun
2. Feedback – the principle of making it clear to the user what action has been taken and
Enjoyable Motivating Provocative what has been accomplished. Many forms of feedback exist in interaction design,
including visual, tactile, audio, and more. The key is to design the experience to never
 leave the user guessing about what action they have taken and the consequence of doing
so.

3. Constraints – about limiting the range of interaction possibilities for the user to simplify
the interface and guide the user to the appropriate next action. This is a case where
constraints are clarifying, since they make it clear what can be done. Limitless possibilities
often leave the user confused.

4. Consistency – refers to having similar operations and similar elements for achieving
similar tasks. By leveraging consistent elements throughout your entire experience, you
make your experience far easier to use. This consistency is important not only within your
interface, but across the many interface users are using across their devices.

5. Affordance – refers to an attribute of an object that allows people to know how to use it.
Essentially to afford means to give a clue. The physical button on a mouse gives a clue that
it can be clicked to perform an action. When an object has strong affordances, it’s very
clear how to use it.