What is a "True" Interaction Designer?

I just finished reading Uday Gajendar's blog post about What’s a “true” interaction designer? I find little to disagree with. I have always been partial to (and perhaps over-emphasize) the aesthetic and graphic aspect of my job, but I wouldn't expect someone to say that it isn't part of my job.

But it is only part of the job. There is a lot to it. His bullet points are worth noting:

• Believes in the human experience...
• Is a champion of aesthetic value...
• Leads with a design process...
• Does typical process artifacts like diagrams, flows, wireframes, site maps, system models...
• Sketches, draws, visualizes, iterates, prototypes, over and over again, to get better resolution of solutions for well-defined problems.
• Takes pride in the craft of making a superb experience...
• Leverages research (of users, of technology, of business)...

I particularly liked how he wrapped up the discussion, though. "In sum, my view of a “true” interaction designer is really an informed visionary."

Design Misconceptions

I've mentioned this before, but I thought it was important to highlight it. A while back, Jared Spool interviewed Luke Wroblewski (both interaction designers of sorts) about some of the misconceptions of design. It is a fairly short podcast interview that is well worth listening to. In the interview, they refer to "visual design." For our purposes, this is synonymous with "interaction design." Have a listen and let me know what you think.

What is an interaction designer?

Well, I've briefly explored what a designer is, but I'm sure many of you are asking, "okay, but what is an interaction designer?" An interaction designer is a designer with a specific emphasis on the interaction between human beings and machines. There are lot of terms that seem synonymous, such as User Experience Designer, Visual Designer, Human Factors Engineering and the like. But I've found Interaction Design(er) to be the most appropriate definition. The founders of this term and ixda.org offer a nice definition:

Interaction Design (IxD) is the branch of user experience design that defines the structure and behavior of interactive products and services.

...except, doesn't that seem vague? What is "user experience design?" What is "behavior?" What are "interactive product?" What is an "interactive service?"

Looking at Wikipedia, there is some help:

The practice typically centers around complex technology systems such as software, mobile devices, and other electronic devices. However, it can also apply to other types of products and services, and even organizations themselves. Interaction design defines the behavior (the "interaction") of an artifact or system in response to its users.

And it goes even deeper:

Certain basic principles of cognitive psychology provide grounding for interaction design. These include mental models, mapping, interface metaphors, and affordances any of these are laid out in Donald Norman's influential book The Design of Everyday Things. Interaction Design (IxD) is the discipline of defining the behavior of products and systems that a user can interact with.

...and that's the part I love; the part of my job that is most challenging and rewarding. It's where the rubber meets the road and real design begins. Except that most organizations find it difficult to accept and invest in cognitive psychology and user research. I hope that this will change over time.

But, what does an interaction designer do? Interaction design is essentially a different way of doing product design. Traditionally, companies look at their users as "customers" and try to understand them as customers. This treatment has a range of results from 1) basically, letting the users design the product, to 2) the company designs the product and ignores customer input.

This whole range of results has a fundamental flaw and that is the view of the "customer." Interaction design attempts to look at users from a different perspective... as people; with personal goals, ideals, opinions, efficiencies, flaws and the like. The basic idea of interaction design is to get inside the user's head and use that information to design a product. It includes getting feedback from the users, but it doesn't burden them, nor expect them, to design a product.

With an understanding of users apart from being "customers," interaction design attempts to solve design problems using creative thinking and well-defined patterns. Solving these design problems requires a set of skills and education that includes some principles. Bruce Tognazzini handily distills the basics. Here are a few quotes:

For example, which of the following takes less time? Heating water in a microwave for one minute and ten seconds or heating it for one minute and eleven seconds?From the standpoint of the microwave, one minute and ten seconds is the obviously correct answer. From the standpoint of the user of the microwave, one minute and eleven seconds is faster. Why? Because in the first case, the user must press the one key twice, then visually locate the zero key, move the finger into place over it, and press it once. In the second case, the user just presses the same key–the one key–three times. It typically takes more than one second to acquire the zero key. Hence, the water is heated faster when it is "cooked" longer.

...

The great efficiency breakthroughs in software are to be found in the fundamental architecture of the system, not in the surface design of the interface. This simple truth is why it is so important for everyone involved in a software project to appreciate the importance of making user productivity goal one and to understand the vital difference between building an efficient system and empowering an efficient user. This truth is also key to the need for close and constant cooperation, communication, and conspiracy between engineers and human interface designers if this goal is to be achieved.

...

Give users well-marked roads and landmarks, then let them shift into four-wheel drive. Mimic the safety, smoothness, and consistency of the natural landscape. Don’t trap users into a single path through a service, but do offer them a line of least resistance. This lets the new user and the user who just wants to get the job done in the quickest way possible and "no-brainer" way through, while still enabling those who want to explore and play what-if a means to wander farther afield.

...

Wherever possible, use multi-threading to push latency into the background. Latency can often be hidden from users through multi-tasking techniques, letting them continue with their work while transmission and computation take place in the background.

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "that sounds like the business team's job", or "...the architect's job", or "...the developer's job". Essentially, you are correct. It is all of our jobs to do these things in the interest of making interactive products behave more like people and to stop making people behave like interactive products such as computers. However, the disciplines behind all of these jobs sometimes precludes these roles from making decisions in favor of users and that is why designers are exerting more emphasis on product design; to return product design back to being more human-oriented.

Cooper, in About Face 3.0 points out,

There is an important conflict of interest in the world of digital product development: The people who build the products -- programmers -- are usually also the people who design them. Programmers are often required to choose between ease of coding and ease of use.

This notion is used to support the hypothesis that product design needs a better process which he calls Goal-directed design. This is the process that I try to use (with my own modifications) to design a product that more accurately meets a user's goals and balances those with the business goals.

Don't Judge a Book by It's Cover!

I've heard comments before about the stereotypes about the appearance of "designers." It's kind of humorous, but there is a seriousness to it, too. But, let's skip the seriousness for a moment and check out this site.

Designers vs. Developers.

It's an Australian site (apparently built with WPF!) that throws photos of people on the screen and we are supposed to guess whether they are designer or developer. I'm batting 500 at the moment :).

Enjoy!

What is a designer? Distinct

If designers are so different, what's the use of having them around? There are two factors to answering this question. First, there is frequently a misconception of what designer does and contributes to a product. The second is an honest question of the value of that contribution.


Let’s deal with the misconception first. A lot of people think that a designer simply makes things look pretty. In fact, questions like this end up in the forums of design studios like 37 Signals:

Designers decide and design the flow, the copy, the structure of the page, the programmers make all of it come to life by plugging it into the backend. All along both parties trade concessions on how to get the feature done as fast possible by grabbing the easiest value.

So stop thinking about designers as artists who work in a different universe of neat graphics and start thinking of them as someone who decides what goes where, which form elements to use, how to split features between screens, what words to use, and how everything fits together in a coherent experience.

I find 37 Signals position on topics to be a bit harsh most of the time, but they are trying to deal with what appears to be an epidemic of misconception. Personally, I don't think it is all that bad; but I see that it exists.

Designers are problem solvers, critical thinkers, cultural critics, creative solution providers and a skilled mix of artisan and technician.

The requirements that a designer works to are both objective and subjective... It’s the subjective, creative side of design that’s hardest to explain and hardest for most people to understand. The aesthetic side of design relates to fashion, human behaviour, emotion and cultural influences such as the cultural meaning of symbols. [1]

When it comes to designers and non-designers, there is often a difference in perspective that makes communication, but it doesn't need to be that way. Designers think differently and that is part of the value that a designer brings to a product.

Design is a strategic tool used to gain market advantage by companies operating at an international level. Their products, their branding, their promotion and their business premises are all designed to maximise customer acceptance of the goods and services they have to offer and to optimise the day to day operation of their business. [1]

[1] Design Institute of Australia - What is a Designer?

What is a designer? Different

Over the years, I have done some development as a means of survival and necessity. I'd have to say, it isn't my favorite thing to do. I enjoy aspects of it because I can see my designs come to fruition; but frankly, some of the deeper technical stuff like memory management, pointers and references, efficient algorithms, protocols and all the other various "programmer concerns" tend to both frustrate and bore me. It has really struck me how unique people are.

I've met developers that enjoy working with the concepts mentioned above. Those same people are sometimes driven to frustration dealing with design principles such as contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity, balance, white space, proportion, sequence, unity, color theory, Fitts' law and many others. Never mind that the tools we use have very unique information architectures and workflows.

So, why are designers so different? Is it personality? Is it brain chemistry? I would not be surprised to learn that this is the case. Whatever it is, I think it is safe to say that it is a different perspective with its own set of disciplines and processes… did I say "processes?" Well, design processes are difficult to understand, too. Idris Mootee says,

I’ve seen hundreds of design processes that are anti-design in nature. They force a linear process-driven approach to design as if it is a production line (Six Sigma for Design? No thanks)

I don't think that he means to say that "there is no process," but that a design process is so distinctly different from other processes that it is difficult to articulate into language and sequence. But as designers, we are frequently found inside of processes invented by non-designers and, in a sense, struggling with it… it's our lot in life.

What is a designer? Defined

So, what exactly is a designer anyway? We could explore technical definitions and opine all day long about the definition of "designer." I'm sure we could find one definition for the word for every designer that exists; or more.

Ok well, let's start with a definition from Merriam Webster:

: one that designs: as a: one who creates and often executes plans for a project or structure designers> designer> b: one that creates and manufactures a new product style or design ; especially : one who designs and manufactures high-fashion clothing designer's new fall line>

Hmm, not very satisfying. We all love free information, what does Wikipedia say?

A designer is a person who designs something. Perhaps the broadest definition is that provided by Herbert Simon: ‘Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.’

Ugh, not much different from Webster. But, as we read on, we will find something a little more helpful:

Working as a designer usually implies being creative in a particular area of expertise. Designers are usually responsible for developing the concept and making drawings or models for something new that will be made by someone else. Their work takes into consideration not only how something will look, but also how it will be used and how it will be made.

The word, "design" is frequently used in a lot of contexts as a synonym for "plan." [1]But, we are talking about designers as professionals that are distinct from other professionals.

Designers bring human and cultural values to business problems, values that sell products and services, create demand and inspire customer confidence and loyalty.

I think we can start to see that "designers" are defined different from other professionals in a myriad of ways. But they are also distinct among people, too.

[1] Design Institute of Australia - What is a Designer?

What is a designer? Defined

What exactly is a designer anyway? We could explore technical definitions and opine all day long about the definition of "designer." I'm sure we could find one definition for the word for every designer that exists; or more.

Ok well, let's start with a definition from Merriam Webster:

: one that designs: as a: one who creates and often executes plans for a project or structure designers> designer> b: one that creates and manufactures a new product style or design ; especially : one who designs and manufactures high-fashion clothing designer's new fall line>

Hmm, not very satisfying. We all love free information, what does Wikipedia say?

A designer is a person who designs something. Perhaps the broadest definition is that provided by Herbert Simon: ‘Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.’

Ugh, not much different from Webster. But, as we read on, we will find something a little more helpful:

Working as a designer usually implies being creative in a particular area of expertise. Designers are usually responsible for developing the concept and making drawings or models for something new that will be made by someone else. Their work takes into consideration not only how something will look, but also how it will be used and how it will be made.

The word, "design" is frequently used in a lot of contexts as a synonym for "plan." [1]But, we are talking about designers as professionals that are distinct from other professionals.

Designers bring human and cultural values to business problems, values that sell products and services, create demand and inspire customer confidence and loyalty.

I think we can start to see that "designers" are defined different from other professionals in a myriad of ways. But they are also distinct among people, too.

[1] Design Institute of Australia - What is a Designer?

An Introduction

Hello and welcome to the my Interaction Design blog. I'm an Interaction Designer. I hope to put a brief autobiography on this blog shortly. This blog is a place for me to share what I'm learning and to give insight into the work that I am doing. I can't share any trade secrets, so things will be a little vague and superficial, but I aim to make it worthwhile anyways. I want to dig into the strengths of interaction design and how it makes a difference in the production of software and Web sites. I want to explore ideas for making interaction design work for companies that are emerging into a new and exciting chapter like S&P's Compustat products are. I want to make explicit all of the things that are implicit so that they can be discussed with more rational thought than merely assumptions and opinions. I want to reach out to others in the UI design community and share ideas. So, I welcome you to join me on this journey. With warm regards to all of my readers, Michael Williamson