Interaction Design Basics

Interaction Design Basics

• Interaction design is a multifaceted field emphasizing understanding how interfaces and devices fit into user workflows and experiences
• It's about creating seamless interactions that align with users' needs and existing tools
• Designers may improve existing tools or create new ones
• The goal is to design solutions that meet user needs and achieve goals easily and naturally.

What is Design?

• Design is achieving goals within constraints
• Goals: focus on purpose, target audience, and reasons for design
• Constraints: focus on limitations (materials, budget, time, standards, and any legal factors)

Interaction Design Basics

• Design: involves interventions, goals, and constraints
• Design Process: describes what happens when designing
• Users: details about the target audience and their characteristics
• Scenarios: rich detailed descriptions of potential user interactions with the design
• Navigation: understanding how a user moves through the system
• Iteration and Prototypes: designs are not perfect first time, need to review and adapt them.

Golden Rule of Design

• Understand your materials (computers, limitations, capacities, tools, and platforms)
• Understand people (psychological and social aspects, human error, and their interactions with technology)

The Design Process

• What is wanted: understanding user goals and needs (e.g., using scenarios, interviews, and ethnography)
• Analysis: gathering information, understanding users, needs vs. existing state of the system (e.g. using interviews and observation.)
• Guidelines and Principles: defining guidelines and principles that the design should follow
• Design: creating the design and precise specifications
• Prototype: creating a working draft for evaluation and feedback
• Evaluation (heuristics, etc.): use methods to test the prototype with users.
• Implement and Deploy: creating final product and putting it into the real world for use.

Steps

• Requirements (what is there and what is wanted): figuring out and recording what currently exists and what is needed (e.g., observation, interviews, etc.)
• Analysis (ordering and understanding): combining results from prior steps to identify key issues for design
• Design (what to do and how to decide): determining how to meet needs, including guidelines and design principles
• Iteration and prototyping (getting it right and finding what is needed): creating and testing iterations, evaluating designs, and gathering user feedback

User Focus

• Stakeholders: people directly or indirectly affected by a system
• Understanding users: essential for effective design, learn about them (e.g., who they are, what they want, what they do, their context, etc.), talk to them, and watch them.
• User Persona: a detailed profile of an ideal user, when many users are involved directly in design is impractical

Scenarios

• Detailed stories of user interactions
• Help to illustrate user interactions with the system to create a visual representation of how systems are meant to be used, and the common ways users approach the system.

Scenarios can:

• Enhance communication between designers, clients, and users
• Validate design models and requirements
• Illustrate system behaviour across multiple contexts and over time

Navigation Design

• Local structure: design of individual screens/pages
• Global structure: design of the entire system and how different screens/pages relate to each other

Levels of Interaction

• Widgets
• Screens Or Windows
• Navigation
• Environment

Think About Structure

• Consider who will use the application, how do they perceive it, what tasks will they perform, and how screen needs to structure
• Local Structure: is the organization and layout within individual screens/pages of a system
• Global structure: represents overall organization between screens/pages

Local Structure

• Key to effective user interaction—understanding the users goal and ability to evaluate progress while using the system quickly
• Goal seeking behavior (users have a general idea) — navigating to goals through the shortest path.

Local Structure (cont.)

• Screens should provide adequate information and feedback
• Usability, clear feedback and intuitive navigation cues allow users to assess their progress

Local Structure (cont.)

• Users should have sufficient knowledge to proceed through a series of screens or steps in a system
• The system should clearly indicate the user's current position

Global Structure: Hierarchical Organization

• Organizing different screens, systems and states.
• Functional boundaries, user roles, system modules
• Help define an intuitive system for users

Global Structure: Dialog

• Organizing and connecting different dialog boxes within a software application
• Pathways and loops in user interaction, using diagrams to illustrate paths and loops

Network of Screens/States

• Diagrams illustrating how users navigate the system
• Important for clarifying interactions and usability

Screen Design and Layout

• Layout of elements on a screen important.
• Basic principles of design are important
• Questions to ask: what is the user doing? What information is required? Design based on need

Tools for layout

• Grouping and structure
• Order of groups and items
• Decoration
• Alignment
• White space (separation, structure, importance)

Grouping and Structure

• Items that logically belong together should physically group together
• How items are physically spaced on a page can dictate the hierarchical structure

Order of groups and items

• Align the order of groups and items with user expectations
• The order of items should match the user's perceived mental model for using a tool or system
• Guide users through process of interacting with a system efficiently

Decoration

• Use visual elements to separate groups
• Visual characteristics such as fonts, colors and shapes can increase visual appeal

Alignment

• Align items for enhanced readability
• Left alignment for text, right alignment for numerical data, and other variations
• Organize items within a system based on structure

Alignment (cont.)

• Importance of clarity—visual consistency aids in differentiation
• Specific guidelines and considerations necessary for layout

Alignment (cont.)

• Using techniques to help users understand visually
• Using visual cues to help users navigate or understand the interaction

White Space

• Space around elements is crucial
• Used to separate blocks of text
• Used as a way to guide visual hierarchy
• Creates a more visually pleasing layout

White space (cont.)

• Use spatial arrangement to direct a user's attention
• Techniques such as spacing, margins and empty or unused background can be used to direct reader focus.

Physical Controls

• Grouping Controls
• Order of Controls
• Decoration: Use of colors and lines to group related controls
• Alignment of controls

User action and control

• Entering Information: process of entering data into a system
• Knowing What To Do : helping users and understanding the necessary information before doing something
• Affordances: designing elements so users readily understand what to do with them

Entering Information

• Layout principles necessary for data entry fields
• Logical and clear layout is essential for entering information

Knowing What To Do

• Visual cues and labels are crucial to guide user interaction
• Understand when to use and how to operate a system

Affordances

• Design elements to indicate the function of items (making items use intuitive)
• Important for all types of users (novice and experienced)

Appropriate Appearance

• Presenting Information
• Aesthetics and Utility
• Color and 3D
• Localization and Internationalization

Presenting Information

• How is information displayed?
• The presentation depends on the context and purpose of use
• Needs to be consistent with other aspects of design.

Aesthetics and Utility

• A visually appealing interface is not always functional
• Visual balance and readability are important

Color and 3D

• Careful use of color to enhance readability, avoid distracting colors
• Do not misuse or overemphasize 3D effects

Localization and Internationalization

• Design of software for diverse languages and cultures
• Software should be easily adaptable in different contexts

Iteration and Prototyping

• Iterative design essential for handling complexity
• Cycle of improving designs, based on feedback
• Using prototypes to test system

Role of Prototyping

• Prototypes are created for user testing and design improvement

Pitfalls Of Prototyping

• Two things are crucial for effective prototyping: A good starting point, and understanding issues

Explore the fundamentals of interaction design, focusing on how interfaces align with user workflows and goals. Understand the importance of design constraints and the role of users in creating effective interactions. This quiz covers design processes, scenarios, and navigation strategies.