Module n° 01
Interaction Design
18.09.2024.
Theories of Interaction Design.
Prof. Davide Spallazzo.
WHAT IS "DESIGN"?
1
According to Wikipedia
Design (English pronunciation [dɪˈzaɪn],
italianized as “disàin” or “desàin”) is that
discipline that deals with the design of
physical, digital or conceptual objects by
drafting a plan that combines
functionality and aesthetics.
One of the roles of design is to respond
to needs, solve problems, propose
solutions or explore new possibilities to
improve the quality of life of human
beings.
Cr: Apple
2
Among Us
Important Design, according to industrial designer Victor Papanek, is the
conscious and intuitive effort to impose meaningful order through
human-oriented design activities:
• Understanding users’ desires, needs, motivations, and contexts
• Understanding business, technical, and domain opportunities,
requirements, and constraints.
• Using this knowledge as a foundation for plans to create products whose
form, content, and behavior is useful, usable, and desirable, as well as
economically viable and technically feasible
(Cooper et al., 2014)
3
Why Are We Here?
This definition is useful for many design disciplines, although the precise
focus on form, content, and behavior will vary depending on what is being
designed. For example, an informational Web site may require particular
attention to content, whereas the design of a chair is primarily concerned
with form.
Interactive digital products are uniquely imbued with complex behavior.
(Cooper et al., 2014)
4
WHAT KINDS OF
DESIGNS ARE THERE?
ON THE MARKET
5
Industrial Product Design
Focuses on creating functional and
aesthetically pleasing physical
products, considering factors like
usability, materials, and mass
production processes.
Cr: Bialetti
6
Interior Design
Oodi Helsinki (Cr: ArchDaily)
Involves designing the layout, decor,
and functionality of interior spaces,
blending aesthetics with practicality to
enhance the user's experience in
residential, leisure or commercial
environments.
7
Communication Design
Cr: Spotify
Combines visual elements like
typography, imagery, and layout to
convey messages effectively, often
seen in advertising, merchandising,
branding, and digital media, ensuring
clear and impactful communication.
8
Fashion Design
Centres on creating clothing,
accessories, and footwear, balancing
form, style, and functionality while
reflecting cultural trends, individual
expression, and textile innovation.
Cr: US Open
9
AND MANY MORE
BUT… WHAT IS
INTERACTION DESIGN (IxD)?
10
A Starting Naive Definition
Interaction Design (IxD) covers design activities in all the
application fields of digital and physical technologies:
interactive connected products, responsive environments,
tangible and multimedia interfaces, personal digital artefacts.
11
From… To…
Splice Application Air Fryer Mori Building Digital Art Museum
(Cr: Bending Spoons) (Cr: Xiaomi) (Cr: eamLab Borderless)
12
Everyday Good Interactions
Every moment of every day, millions of people
send e-mail, talk on mobile phones, instant
message each other, record TV shows on digital
video recorders (DVRs), and listen to music on
MP3 players. All of these things are made
possible by good engineering. But it’s
interaction design that makes them usable,
useful, and fun.
(Saffer, 2009)
13
Everyday Good Interactions
You benefit from good interaction design
every time you:
• Go to an automatic teller machine
(ATM) and withdraw cash with a few
simple touches on a screen.
• Become engrossed in a computer
game.
• Cut and paste cells on a spreadsheet.
• Buy something online.
• Twitter from your mobile phone.
• Update your status on Facebook.
(Saffer, 2009) Cr: Glovo
14
Everyday Bad Interactions
But the reverse is often also true. We suffer from poor interaction design
all around us. Thousands of interaction design problems wait to be solved.
Such as when you:
• Try to use the self-checkout at a grocery store and it takes you half an
hour.
• Can’t get your car to tell you what’s wrong with it when it breaks down.
• Wait at a bus stop with no idea when the next bus will arrive.
• Struggle to synchronize your mobile phone to your computer.
• Can’t figure out how to set the clock in your microwave oven.
(Saffer, 2009)
15
What is an “Interaction“?
An interaction, grossly speaking, is a transaction between two entities,
typically an exchange of information, but it can also be an exchange of
goods or services. This book is called “Designing FOR Interaction” because
it is this sort of exchange that interaction designers try to engender in their
work. Interaction designers design for the possibility of interaction. The
interaction itself takes place between people, machines, and systems, in a
variety of combinations.
(Saffer, 2009)
16
DEISGN (and IxD in particular) is
not DETERMINISTIC
17
WHEN WAS INTERACTION
DESIGN BORN?
18
Before 1940s
In the mid-1930s, Samuel Morse
developed Morse code and the
telegraph’s operational system, enabling
communication over long distances.
This marked the first communication
technology requiring a complex
infrastructure, unlike simpler inventions
like the printing press.
Similarly, other communication
technologies like the telephone, radio,
and television needed engineers to
design systems and interfaces for both
sending and receiving messages, but
Electric Telegraph (Cr: The New York Times)
they lacked awareness of their use.
19
1940s - 1950s
Early computers like ENIAC were built
for function, not user-friendliness,
requiring humans to adapt to the
machines by using punch cards or
cables for input.
In 1945, Vannevar Bush introduced the
(never built) Memex, a conceptual
device precursor to hypertext and
desktop computing, influencing later
developments in interaction design.
At the same time, fields such as human
factors and ergonomics, emphasizing
the design of products for human
Bush’s Memex Concept (Cr: PBworks) efficiency and comfort, were born.
20
1960s
Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu, an early
attempt at a hypertext system, and
Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad, the first
graphical user interface (GUI)
program, emerged during this period.
The 1960s also saw the creation of the
first virtual reality system and the
development of email, which later
expanded into ARPANET, the precursor
to the Internet. In 1968, Doug Engelbart
introduced key interaction design
concepts, including the mouse, point-
and-click, hyperlinks, and networked
Doug Engelbart’s Mouse (Cr: Wikipedia) collaboration.
21
1970s:
Lorem Xerox PARC, founded in 1970,
became a hub of innovation, producing
groundbreaking technologies like the
desktop metaphor, icons, cut-and-
paste functions, and Ethernet
networking.
The late 1970s saw software
development became a focus, with
landmark programs like VisiCalc (the
first spreadsheet software) and
WordStar (a word processor), shifting
the emphasis from hardware to user-
VisiCalc (Cr: Wikipedia)
oriented software.
22
1980s
In the early 1980s, graphical user
interfaces (GUIs) became mainstream
with Apple’s Lisa and Macintosh,
revolutionising personal computing.
This era introduced more powerful
software and portable computers,
while gaming consoles like the Sega
Genesis and Super Nintendo brought
advanced graphics to a mass
audience, through iconic games such
as Super Mario and Legend of Zelda.
Bulletin board systems (BBSs) like The
Apple Lisa (Cr: Wikipedia)
WELL enabled remote communication.
23
1990s
In the 1990s, the World Wide Web and
email drove the need for better interaction
design, with Marc Andreessen's Mosaic
browser (1993) introducing key features.
Early web experimentation gave way to
design standards by the late 1990s.
Sensors and microprocessors were
integrated into everyday objects,
enabling smart behaviors. Gaming,
online communities, and mobile devices,
including PDAs like the PalmPilot, grew
rapidly, with mobile phones becoming
Mosaic (Cr: Wikipedia)
essential tools by the end of the decade.
24
2000s
The rise of social software and
ubiquitous computing changed user
interactions from one-to-one with
devices to many devices interacting
over networks. By 2003, laptops
outsold desktops, and by 2009, mobile
web access became common.
The Internet shifted from content
consumption to enabling activities like
trading, socializing, and sharing
media. New technologies, including
gestural interfaces, voice
interactions and touchscreens,
Nintendo Wii (Cr: The Verge) transformed interaction design.
25
Present and Future Trends
In the last decade, interaction design
has continued to evolve with the advent
of new technologies such as mixed
reality (MR) and artificial intelligence
(AI). Designers now face the challenge
of creating interactions for increasingly
complex “digital environments”.
The focus has also shifted towards
ethical design, ensuring that digital
products are not only user-friendly but
also promote positive socio-economic,
environmental and cultural impacts.
Cr: Apple
26
WHEN WAS IxD
DISCIPLINE BORN?
27
IxD as a Discipline
Back in 1990, Bill Moggridge, a principal of the design firm IDEO, realized
that for some time he and some of his colleagues had been creating a very
different kind of design. It wasn’t product design exactly, but they were
definitely designing products. Nor was it communication design, although
they used some of that discipline’s tools as well. It wasn’t computer
science either, although a lot of it had to do with computers and software.
(Saffer, 2009)
28
IxD as a Discipline
“I felt that there was an opportunity to create a new design discipline,
dedicated to creating imaginative and attractive solutions in a
virtual world, where one could design behaviours, animations, and
sounds as well as shapes.
This would be the equivalent of industrial design but in software rather
than three-dimensional objects. Like industrial design, the discipline
would start from the needs and desires of the people who use a
product or service, and strive to create designs that would give
aesthetic pleasure as well as lasting satisfaction and enjoyment.”
(Moggride, 2007)
29
IxD as a Term
“I gave my first conference presentation on the
subject in 1984, and at that time I described it
as “Soft-face”, thinking of a combination
between software and user-interface design
[...] we went on thinking of possible names until
I eventually settled on “interaction design”
with the help of Bill Verplank.”
(Moggride, 2007)
30
IxD as a Term
To Verplank it was closer to To Moggridge closer to an
the computer term user application of industrial
interface design for the vs design to product with
industrial design profession interfaces
31
IxD as a Broad Mix of Disciplines
Adapted from Saffer, 2008
32
IxD Discipline Now
The interaction design label remained relatively marginal until the mid-
1990s; the design community largely considered the behaviours of the virtual
world to be a specialty within industrial design. During this period, academia
as well as ICT industries were mainly occupied with usability and human
factors engineering, focusing on ways to operationalize psychology and
ergonomics into methods for creating efficient and error-free interactions
to support digital tasks.
(Löwgren, 2014)
33
THREE IxD
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
34
A. The Technology-Centered View
Interaction designers make digital technology, useful, usable, and
pleasurable to use. This is why the rise of software and the Internet was
also the rise of the field of interaction design. Interaction designers take the
raw stuff produced by engineers and programmers and mold it into products
that people enjoy using.
(Saffer, 2009)
35
B. The Behaviorist View
As Jodi Forlizzi and Robert Reimann succinctly put it in 1999 in their
presentation “Interaction Designers: What we are, what we do, & what we
need to know,” interaction design is about “defining the behavior of
artifacts, environments, and systems”. This view focuses on
functionality and feedback: how products behave and provide feedback
based on what the people engaged with them are doing.
(Saffer, 2009)
36
C. The Social Interaction Design View
The broadest view of interaction design is that it is inherently social,
revolving around facilitating communication between humans through
products. This perspective is sometimes called Social Interaction Design.
Technology is nearly irrelevant in this view; any kind of object or device
can make a connection between people. These communications can take
many forms; they can be one-to-one as with a telephone call, one-to-many
as with a blog, or many-to-many as with the stock market.
(Saffer, 2009)
37
THE DEFINITIONS OF IxD
REMAIN VARIOUS…
38
From Academics & Practitioners
1) Is the design of the subjective and qualitative aspects of everything
that is both digital and interactive. (Moggridge, 2007)
2) Interaction design is about people: how people connect with other
people through the product and the service the use. (Saffer, 2009)
3) Interaction design is about shaping (design) digital things (technology)
for people’s use (psychology). (Lowgren, 2014)
4) Interaction design is the practise of designing interactive digital
products environments, systems and services”. (Cooper et al., 2014)
39
From Academics & Practitioners
5) Interaction design is about defining the behavior of artifacts,
environments, and systems. (Forlizzi & Reimann, 1999)
6) By interaction design, we mean designing interactive products to support
the way people communicate and interact in their everyday and working
lives. (Sharp et al., 2002)
7) Designing interactive systems is concerned with developing high quality
interactive systems and products that fit with people and their ways of
living. (Benyon et al., 2004)
40
FROM THESE DEFINITIONS
WHAT CHARACTERIZES IxD?
41
1. Focusing on Users
Cr: Helena Lopes
Designers know that users don’t
understand or care how the company
that makes a product is run and
structured. They care about doing their
tasks and achieving their goals within
their limits. Designers are advocates
for end users.
42
2. Finding Alternatives
Cr: Google
Designing isn’t about choosing among
multiple options—it’s about creating
options, finding a “third option”
instead of choosing between two
undesirable ones. This creation of
multiple possible solutions to problems
sets designers apart.
Consider, for example, Google’s
AdWords. The company needed
advertising for revenue, but users hated
traditional banner ads. Thus, designers
came up with a third approach: text ads.
43
3. Using Ideation and Prototyping
Designers find their solutions through
brainstorming and then, most important,
building models to test the solutions.
Certainly, scientists and architects and
even accountants model things, but
design involves a significant difference:
design prototypes aren’t fixed.
Any particular prototype doesn’t
necessarily represent the solution, only
a solution. It’s not uncommon to use
several prototypes to create a single
product.
PalmPilot Prototype (Cr: [Link])
44
4. Collaborating and Addressing Constraints
Few designers work alone. Designers
usually need resources (money,
materials, developers, printers, and so
on) to produce what they dream up, and
these resources come with their own
constraints. Designers seldom have
carte blanche to do whatever they want.
They must address business goals,
compromise with teammates, and meet
deadlines. Designing is almost always
a team effort.
Vacuum Design Team (Cr: Electrolux)
45
5. Creating Appropriate Solutions
Most designers create solutions that
are appropriate only to a particular
project at a particular point in time.
Designers certainly carry experience
and wisdom from one project to the
next, but the ultimate solution should
uniquely address the issues of that
particular problem.
This is not to say that the solution (the
product) cannot be exactly copied in
other contexts (experience tells us it
can and will be).
Mignon City Car (Cr: Citroën)
46
6. Drawing on a Wide Range of Influences
Cr: WGSN Trend Analytics
Because design touches on so many
subject areas (psychology, ergonomics,
economics, engineering, architecture,
art, and more), designers bring to the
table a broad, multidisciplinary
spectrum of ideas from which to draw
inspiration and solutions.
47
7. Incorporating Emotion
Cr: Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005)
In analytical thinking, emotion is seen
as an impediment to logic and making
the right choices. In design, products
without an emotional component are
lifeless and do not connect with people.
Emotion needs to be thoughtfully
included in design decisions.
What would the Volkswagen Beetle be
without whimsy?
48
SO, WHAT IS THE "FINAL"
DEFINITION OF IxD?
49
THERE ISN’T!
BUT
50
Getting Closer:
Interaction Design is the creation of a dialogue
between a person and a product, system, or
service.
This dialogue, physical and emotional, is
manifested in the interplay between form,
function, and technology as experienced
over time.
(Kolko, 2011)
51
Bibliography
1. Benyon, D., Turner, P. & Turner, S. E. (2004). Designing interactive systems: People, activities, contexts,
technologies. Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0321116291
2. Cooper, A., Reimann, R., Cronin, D. & Noessel, C. (2014). About face: the essentials of interaction design
(4th Ed.). Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-76657-6.
3. Forlizzi, J. & Reimann, R. (1999). Presentation: Interaction Designers: What we are, what we do, & what
we need to know.
4. Kolko, J. (2011). Thoughts on Interaction Design. Morgan Kaufmann. ISBN 978-0123809308.
5. Löwgren, J. (2014). Interaction Design-Brief Intro. In The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction
(2nd Ed.). Available online: [Link]
computer-interaction-2nd-ed/interaction-design-brief-intro.
6. Moggridge, B. 2007. Designing Interactions. MIT press. ISBN: 9780262134743
7. Saffer, D. (2008). The Disciplines of User Experience. Retrieved from
[Link]
8. Saffer, D. (2009). Designing for interaction: creating smart applications and clever devices (2nd Ed.). New
Riders. ISSN 9780321643391.
9. Sharp, E., Rogers, Y. & Preece, J. (2007). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-computer Interaction. Wiley.
ISBN 978-0471492788
52
18.09.2024.
Theories of Interaction Design.
Prof. Davide Spallazzo.