Interaction Design: Good and Poor Design

• Interaction Design applies HCI principles to create engaging user experiences.
• Chapter 2 explores good and bad interaction design, the interaction design process, people-centered design, accessibility/inclusiveness in relation to HCI, and the relationship between user experience and usability.

Good and Poor Design

• Interaction design focuses on creating usable, learnable, effective, and enjoyable interactive products.
• Comparing well-designed and poorly designed products helps improve understanding an effective design.
• Remote controls can be an example of a well-designed/poorly designed product.
• Remotes can be overly complex due to the large number of buttons.
• Users typically use about a third of the buttons regularly with the rest causing confusion.
• Complexity arises from excessive buttons, many without a clear purpose.
• Inconsistent interfaces and a lack of integration between devices are other sources of complexity.
• Simplifying design and creating unified systems can improve user experience significantly.
• Many remotes have a confusing array of small, multicolored buttons, sometimes with multiple labels in seemingly random positions.
• Tivo remote is an example of good design, with an intuitive layout, clear labeling, and ergonomic features.

User Interface

• Smart TV designers have different approaches to User Interface (UI) design for viewing online content.
• Some replicate traditional TV interfaces, some integrate elements from desktop and mobile platforms to enhance navigation.
• Balancing ease of use with the increasing complexity of online streaming services and content discovery is key.
• A variety of approaches cater to different user preferences and behaviors.

Transition to Digital Technology

• Digital interfaces altered how users interact with technology.

• Banking and airline ticket booking are more streamlined and accessible through smartphone apps and online platforms.

• People can manage their finances, transfer money, pay bills, and deposit checks from their phones.

• Travel bookings can be done online with ease, offering comparisons, selection, and instant purchases.

• Smart supermarkets integrate digital interfaces and self-checkouts.

• These designs streamline shopping, reduce friction, and provide real-time product information.

• Technology-driven solutions are becoming commonplace in consumer interactions.

• Accessible banking apps ensure that text is readable, offer text resizing, and are compatible with screen readers.

• Easy navigation with voice commands, gesture support, and clear visual elements creates an inclusive experience.

• Leading banks integrate accessibility features into their mobile app interfaces like screen reader compatibility, high-contrast mode, and voice control options.

Interaction Design

• Designing interactive products requires an understanding of the users, their intended methods of use, and the environment in which they interact with the product.
• It’s important to consider what specific activities users engage in while interacting with the product
• Interfaces and arrangements of input/output devices should align with the intended activities.
• Those involved in design include designers, developers, users, and stakeholders.
• Designers are responsible for the user experience and interface, while developers implement the technical aspects.
• Users provide feedback on the product in real-life scenarios. Stakeholders guide overall goals of design.

People-Centered Design

• Considers the emotional connections people have with a product.
• Takes into account pleasure and satisfaction derived from interactions and subtle sensory details.
• Strives to create a positive and fulfilling experience.

Considerations for Interaction Design

• Cultural variations in how time and number systems are represented must be taken into account.
• Linear visualization of time in Western cultures may not be intuitive for cultures with cyclical time perception.
• Numerical inputs must also translate cross culturally, understanding cultures use different bases (base-2, base-20).
• Designers must be sensitive to cultural differences in representing time and numbers.

Accessibility and Inclusiveness

• Accessibility is the degree to which an interactive product is usable by as many people as possible.

• Inclusiveness is about fairness, openness, and equality for all.

• Inclusive design aims to create products and services usable by the broadest range of individuals.

• Achieved through designing technology that is inherently inclusive and assistive tech that supports specific needs.

• Impairments are categorized as sensory, physical, or cognitive.

• Impairments can be permanent, temporary, or situational.

• Impairment recognition is vital to interaction design because it directly influences a product’s accessibility and inclusiveness.

• Accommodating diverse user needs makes products effective for everyone, regardless of ability.

• Accessibility complies with legal requirements and fosters an inclusive environment.

Usability and User Experience Goals

• Usability focuses on making interactive products easy to learn, effective, and enjoyable from the user's perspective, which optimizes the interaction between people and products.

• Usability is broken down in key goals (Rogers et al., 2023): effectiveness, efficiency, safety, utility, learnability, memorability, satisfaction.

• Usability goals are framed as questions to help interaction designers assess a product.

• Effectiveness ensures tasks can be completed successfully.

• Efficiency ensures users complete tasks with minimal effort and time.

• Safety minimizes risk of harm and protects users from danger or undesirable situations.

• Utility ensures the product provides the necessary functionality.

• Learnability ensures it is easy for users to get started and become proficient

• Memorability ensures uses can easily recall a product after not interacting with it.

• Satisfaction ensures products are enjoyable and acceptable during use, and meet user expectations.

• Emotions and experiences have been identified in interaction design.

• Goals include (positive) satisfying, helpful, fun, enjoyable, motivating, provocative, engaging, challenging, surprising, pleasurable, enhancing sociability, rewarding, exciting, supporting creativity, emotionally fulfilling, entertaining, cognitively stimulating, experiencing flow, and (negative) boring, unpleasant, creepy, frustrating, patronizing, intrusive, making one feel guilty, making one feel stupid, invasive, annoying, cutesy, deceptive, childish, gimmicky.

• Some qualities are more subjective, concentrating on the user's personal experience.

• A broader range of terms are used to capture the complex and varied user experience.

• Positive user experience can also be influenced by individual actions at the interface.

• “Microinteractions” are small moments of design which can significantly impact the overall user experience.

Design Principles of Interaction Design

• Interaction designers use design principles to guide their thinking when creating user experiences.
• Principles based on theoretical knowledge, practical experience, and common sense focus on various aspects of designs.
• Design principles offer recommendations on what should be included or avoided in the interface.
• Common design principles include the "dos and don'ts" of interaction design.
• Visibility - Interfaces must clearly indicate the next necessary user action with cars' turn signal indicators and buttons with clear labels
• Feedback involves providing information about the action taken and its outcome with error message and haptic feedback.
• Constraints involved are ways to limit user interactions like drop-down menus and deactivating options.
• Consistency involves designing interfaces with uniform operations and elements, employing the same method to select all objects, such as color scheme, menu layout, and swipe gestures.
• Affordance is how object characteristics suggest how it should be used, such as using icons and design.