Design + Interactive

Interaction Design

Overview

Any creative process must be driven by a philosophy that answers these foundational questions: How can we measure the value of a piece of media? What is good design? Bad design? And, most importantly, who gets to decide? From the point of view of user-experience-design it is not ‘the academy’ or the editors of magazines or the competition jurors or the famous artist or the respected designer. There is no central authority, no ministry of good art and design, no golden rules that always work and no magic bullets to load into your color palette. The value of a piece of art, design or media is not innate. It’s not ‘in it’. Rather its value is determined by its audience and can be measured only by the quality of their experience with it.

An interaction designer understands that media is only one small component in their audience’s complex life experience. Media is never isolated from that. So the user interaction designer is really creating a story that will fit into and effect the on-going narrative of someone's life. The value, the success of the media, will only be measured against how well it meets its objective with its target audience within the context of everything else they have experienced up to and at that moment, not to mention, looking forward.

The idea that we each fit neatly into a single archetype is a fiction. We do, however, have leanings towards certain archetypical behaviors while also embodying many more to varying degrees. Our job is to discover the archetypes that describe the set of users we are designing for. The use of the word persona in place of archetype is common in the design world. However, it's use is often mis-placed. Personas are what we show (or hope to show) others. It is not who we actually are. It's what we aspire to be. Our actual selves and our personas are rarely identical. If you are working on a design that is "aspirational" (like a Corvette), then thinking in terms of personas makes sense. Otherwise, it may not.

The Process

Define a UI Design Statement
Define Archetypes (and sometimes personas)
Develop UI Stories for each of the archetypes

Example

From the HOP project from the Professional Studio course in the DAD program at KCAD.

Interaction Design Statement

HOP is a destination app that combines way-finding, social media, branding and advertising all on Google maps. With geographic location at its core, it will provide consumers with a way to plan events, and ad-hoc gatherings on-the-fly as well as connect people with businesses and each other within communities.

Archetypes

Categorized according to Social Media expert Clay Shirky's archetypes for social media users

Producers
Problem Solvers
Curators
Local Consumers
Traveling Consumers
Connectors

Interaction Stories

Producers

I own a Coney Island in East Town and I want to advertise today's special on a mobile app that a lot of people will be using to make dinner plans.
I just opened up an art gallery and I want it to be on the map... the building I'm in isn't there yet, so I want to construct it and link it to my website and facebook page.
I own a cell phone store and I want to advertise locally to people who need to buy minutes.
I run a neighborhood association (ie: Cherry Hill) and I want to build our brand and attract patrons to our businesses thru a combination of visual identity, way-finding, social net-working and informational listings on a mobile platform. I want the ability to build the environment and add content in a simple, fluid system. I want my patrons, residents and business owners to be able to easily add content as well. (googlehood.com or wikiplace.com)
I want, as a resident, to be able to add events and news to the on-line version of my neighborhood or town.

Problem Solvers

I own a mobile restaurant and I want to let people know where I will be at various times of the day.
I have a hot-dog cart and I want to place it on the map where I happen to be at any given time.
I am participating in Art prize and I want to place the location of my entry on a map... and provide some info about it... and receive comments.
I want to stage a protest demonstration and I want to coordinate and monitor the activity from afar. I want to know what is going on and be able to direct it.

Curators

I just discovered a boutique in Cherry Hill and want to share it with my friends and leave a comment about it for others to see at the same time. I want to see if i know any one that is in the vicinity ... maybe they can walk over and meet me.
I want other people to know what I think about individual places I've been.
I want other people to know what I think about neighborhoods I've visited.
I want other people to know what I think about the place I live.
I want other people to know what I think about events I've attended.

Local Consumers

It's Friday afternoon, I'm at work or school and I want to plan my weekend. Things I'm interested in doing: Dinner, Movie, Shopping, Arts event, Something new to me. I want to do it all in one neighborhood.
I'm going to out to dinner on Saturday night and I want to know where the next available table at a Chinese restaurant is within walking distance of my house.
I want to feel like I know what is going on in my neighborhood - crime, events, construction, everything a newspaper gives me.
I want to know what is going on, right now, within a specified distance of where I am... events... communal, public, civic. I want to be impulsive.
I want to know what is going on, next Tuesday, within a specified distance of where I am... events... communal, public, civic. I want to plan a day.
I want to know what is going on, this month, within a specified distance of where I am... events... communal, public, civic. I want to be informed.

Traveling Consumers

It's Saturday afternoon, I'm from out of town and I am finishing up a conference at the Devos Center. I want to find dinner near my Hotel (the Amway Grand) and I want to do something after that... within walking distance... but I don't what.
I'm driving into town and have a meeting downtown, I'm running down to the wire on time and I need to know where the cheapest available parking space is within 1/4 mile of my meeting place.
I heard about a neighborhood that is cool... and I want to know how to get there from wherever I happen to be.
I am in park and realize that I forgot sunscreen. I would like to get walking directions to the nearest market or convenience store.
I want to see some photos of places I may be interested in going.
I want to know what other people think about places I may be interested in going.

Connectors

I want to be able to click an icon representing a person (a receptionist or scheduler or friend or ?).. and have a conversation with them (via Twitter? IM? Voice? Skype?)
I want to be able to make specific recommendations to people that have specific questions about a place or event.

Another Example

Xfinity Mode Interaction Stories example

Guide by KCAD Professor Bill Fischer

Google Sites

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