Human-Computer Interaction 3e Dix, Finlay, Abowd, Beale
CHAPTER 5
interaction design basics
Interaction design is about creating interventions in often complex situations
using technology of many kinds including PC software, the web and physical devices
- Design involves:
- achieving goals within constraints and trade-off between these
- understanding the raw materials: computer and human
- accepting limitations of humans and of design
- The design process has several stages and is iterative and never complete.
- Interaction starts with getting to know the users and their context:
- finding out who they are and what they are like ... probably not like
you!
- talking to them, watching them
- Scenarios are rich design stories, which can be used and reused throughout
design:
- they help us see what users will want to do
- they give a step-by-step walkthrough of users' interactions: including
what they see, do and are thinking
- Users need to find their way around a system; this involves:
- helping users know where they are, where they have been and what they
can do next
- creating overall structures that are easy to understand and fit the
users' needs
- designing comprehensible screens and control panels
- Complexity of design means we don't get it right first time:
- so we need iteration and prototypes to try out and evaluate
- but iteration can get trapped in local maxima, designs that have
no simple improvements, but are not good
- theory and models can help give good start points
