101 Things I Learned In Interaction Design School - Web Directions South

101 Things I (should have) Learned in Interaction Design School
Shane Morris (@shanemo)

How to draw a line
1
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School, Matthew Frederick

Design an architectural space to accommodate a specific program, experience , or intent.
12
For the drawing and description, see
“101 Things I Learned in Architecture School” by Matthew Frederick
http://www.frederickdesignstudio.com/Books/101Things.html

How to draw a line
1

I didn’t go to Interaction Design School

When I started out in this industry…

HCI was a science
amazon.com/Psychology-Human-Computer-Interaction-Stuart-Card/dp/0898598591

The 2 disciplines

Engineering vs. Design

The 4 disciplines

Careful anchor placement can generate an active building interior
87

To write “101 Things I Learned in Interaction Design School”…

ixd101.com

Functionality is the enemy of usability
When you are handed a functional specification, it is easy to take it on face value, and then work hard to make that functionality as usable as possible. If you are really focussed on usability, then your job starts with critiquing the functionality itself.

ixd101.com

UPDATE – IXD101.COM
Matt Frederick Calls
activity
time
UXA 2009
UXA 2010
WDS 2010

The level of detail in your mock-ups should reflect the level of confidence in your design
Mock-ups are prepared as a way of exploring a particular design problem, and in order to communicate your thoughts on a solution to important stakeholders (i.e. users, clients or developers).
In the early stages of design, mock-ups should communicate broad concepts and groupings of information or functions. Keeping the details scant at these early stages allows you to progress through iterations quickly and keeps your stakeholders from throwing the baby out with the bath-water by quibbling over colours and button placement.
As you progress towards a final design, mock-ups should be rendered in increasingly higher fidelity so that the full detail of your approach is exposed

Approach vs. Technique

The timeless way of…

Play tricks, don't wait for a full-house
Deciding when your design is mature enough to put in front of a client is always difficult. Unfortunately, there is a natural tendency to err on the side of holding off for longer than we should.
All other things being equal, you should expose your design earlier rather than later - in fact, earlier than you feel comfortable with.
Even if you have problems with aspects of the design, it is better to bring your stakeholders over to your side of the problem sooner.
To use an analogy from card games; play your design out in small "tricks" don't wait for a "full house", lest you be left with a hand full of great - but now useless - cards when the project moves on without you.

The getting of wisdom

The getting of wisdom
design
Design

Random unsubstantiated hypothesis
69

Like buildings, applications break at the joins
It’s the journey between pages or screens, not the pages and screens themselves, that can cause the most problems for users.
Plus - problems with the journey are the most expensive problems to fix.
Design the journey between states first, before designing the states.

Have we achieved wisdom in interaction design?
NO

Interaction design is hard!
www.vintagecalculators.com

Separation of action and reaction
The greater the distance between a user’s action and the system’s reaction, the more you need to emphasise the relationship between the action and the reaction.
Distance can be measured in space, or in time.

Interaction design is hard!
www.vintagecalculators.com

Do you know where your pixels come from?
Powerhouse Museum Collection
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=28769
Gift of Australian Consolidated Press under the Taxation Incentives for the Arts Scheme, 1985

Interaction design is hard…
BUT we are soft!

Architects don’t get to usability test
“You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site.“
Frank Lloyd Wright
http://quotesondesign.com/frank-lloyd-wright/

Industrial designers don’t get to A/B test

Interaction design is hard…
BUT we are soft!

Landmarks help us know where we are going, and where we have been
When we explore a new city, landmarks break our journey into stages. At each landmark we stop, assess where we’ve been, reorient ourselves, and set out again.
Landmarks can help with any journey. On a web site, arriving at a page that is markedly different to others marks the end of a stage of the interaction, or the beginning of a new stage.
Memorable landmarks that stand out from their surrounds help us form a mental model of where we have been, and where else we can go.

…we need greater confidence
http://www.cafepress.com.au/jenkramer.145505508#

Design with models
72

Four new books!

Roll your drawings for transport or storage with the image side facing out
90

Thank you
101 Things I Learned in Architecture School
Matthew Frederick
Shane Morris
Automatic Studio
shane@automaticstudio.com.au
@shanemo
Ixd101.com

101 Things I Learned In Interaction Design School - Web Directions South

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