During our first ‘Interaction Design’ class, my professor pointed out that it should be called “Human Interaction Design.” The reason is simple: it’s people who interact with designs every day. I think this makes a lot of sense and highlights the importance of considering the human aspect in design. Interaction design is all about creating engaging interfaces with well-thought-out behaviors. It’s the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services.
Here are some basic concepts:
User-Centered Design: This concept focuses on the needs, wants, and limitations of end users. Designers conduct user research to understand their audience and create designs that meet their needs. For example, a user-centered approach for a banking app would involve simplifying the process of transferring money based on user feedback.
Affordances: These are the properties of an object that show users how to use it. For instance, a button on a website that looks like it can be pressed is an affordance. It tells users they can interact with it.
Feedback: Providing feedback means giving users a response to their actions. This could be a sound, visual cue, or a message. For example, when you click a button to submit a form online, a spinning icon might appear to show the system is processing your request.
Consistency: This principle ensures that similar elements behave in similar ways. Consistency in design helps users feel more comfortable because they know what to expect. For example, using the same icons for similar actions across different parts of an app ensures users don’t get confused.
Constraints: These limit the ways users can interact with a system to reduce errors. For example, a form might only allow numbers in a phone number field to prevent users from entering incorrect information.
Discoverability: This is how easily users can find information or understand how to use something. A good example is a website’s navigation bar, which helps users find different sections of the site quickly.
In summary, interaction design is about making digital products easy and pleasant to use. It involves understanding users, creating intuitive elements, and ensuring the interface responds appropriately to user actions. By focusing on these concepts, designers can create more effective and enjoyable user experiences.
