The Goals Of Interaction Design

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Introduction

In this lesson, the process of interaction design is discussed in terms of it the four main activities of the process as well as the interaction design goals.

Learning Outcomes

Be familiar with the interaction design process.

Be familiar with the interaction design goals.

Terminology

No

Word

Definition

2.1 What is involved in the Process of Interaction Design?

Interaction design can be broken down into four main activities:

Identifying needs and requirements

Developing designs that fulfill those requirements

Building interactive products of the design so that they can be used

Evaluate the ‘building’ process throughout

These four activities are the main building blocks of any interaction design process. They can be repeated at any stage in the process (see Figure 2.1). For instance, the evaluation activity, considered to be a major activity, is carried out at every stage of the design process. An example of this and the repetition of the activities occur once the needs and requirements are identified and the first prototype design is developed. At this stage, an evaluation of the prototype is carried out and the feedback from the potential users as well as the designers is then put back in and the requirements/needs are altered. Then a new prototype is developed (incorporating the new requirements) and evaluated and so on.

The evaluation process that occurs throughout the design process is very much user orientated. In other words, users are regularly presented with versions of the interactive product and their feedback is sought. This process, called user-centered design can be achieved through various ways, such as talking to the users, interviewing them, observing them (using the product), testing them, or giving them questionnaires to answer. As well as evaluating, and before any design is developed, designers need to understand what potential users are currently doing, in terms of how they interact with one another and how the interactive product can further enhance this interaction/communication. In essence, designers need to transfer users’ needs into fully working functions in the interactive product. It is essential for designers to understand the users of the products as different users will have different abilities and experiences, and as a result, will have different needs. For example, an expert user will use an interactive product differently compared to a novice user and their requirements will also differ.

Design

Prototype

Evaluate

End Product

OK?

Re-design

Not OK!

Figure 2.1: Interaction Design – Iterative Process

2.2 The goals of Interaction Design

The goals of interaction design can be illustrated by taking a closer look at the usability goals of an interactive product.

This is further discussed in the following sub-section.

2.2.1 Usability Goals

Effectiveness – The system needs to be effective at what it is meant to do. For example if the interactive product is a children’s educational game, does it allow people to learn well? Or if the product is a communication application such as ‘Skype’, does it allow the user to communicate effectively?

Efficiency – Is the interactive product efficient in what it does? If we take the early example of the hotel’s voice mail system, it can be concluded that it is not as efficient as it could be as it demands from the user to carry out 6 steps in order to carry out one simple task (listen to his messages). To be efficient, the interactive product will allow the user to carry out tasks using a little as possible steps. Another example of a system being effective is the process of saving a user’s personal and bank details on a website. This saves the users from having to type his details every time he wants to make a purchase, only having to type them in the first time.

Safety – Is the interactive product safe to use? This involves two aspects; external and internal safety. External safety is concerned with the surrounding environment of the interactive product. Hazardous objects should not be near the product. The internal aspect of the safety goal is to make sure that the users are safe in a way that if they make a mistake (clicking on a button by accident) they can easily ‘re-do’ this click and their work/progress is not lost or deleted. Also, the user is prompted with a ‘warning’ message to double check if an action has been chosen, for instance if one accidently clicks on the ‘close file’ option without saving his work, the system prompts him to save his work before closing down the file.

Utility – This goal aims to provide the user with the correct functionality a system can offer. For example, a software drawing tool with high utility will allow the user all the functionality of the software. On the other hand, a software drawing tool with low utility may not offer the user the option of drawing ‘freestyle’, restricting him to using the mouse to draw.

Learnability – Is the system easy to learn? A new user to the system will need to learn how to use the system, its core/basic functions as a minimum but also, some users will need to learn how to use the system’s full functionality. Both set of functions have to be easy enough to learn, by novice and expert users.

Memorability – Interface support is an essential part of any interactive product. The aim of it is to aid users remember how tasks/functions are carried out. This can be in the form of constant interface guidance on how tasks are carried out as well as online manuals that come part of the system.

Summary

In this lesson, the following has been discussed:

In this lesson, the process of interaction design is discussed in terms of it the four main activities of the process as well as the interaction design goals.

Exercises

Interactive products and applications are designed and developed in order to suit the users’ needs. (TRUE)

Negative aspects are a positive thing when it comes to interaction design. (FALSE)

Good design of interactive products leads the users to become frustrated. (FALSE)

Interaction design only involves one discipline. (FALSE)

Psychology and cognitive science play a huge part in interactive product design. (TRUE)

The process of interaction design is an iterative one. (TRUE)

Interaction design can be broken down into 6 main activities. (FALSE)

Effectiveness is a usability goal. (TRUE)