interactive objeccts & spaces 1 - wk04a - interaction design issues

interactive objects & spaces 1 - med m/567 - Summer 2008
Philip van Allen - v a n a l l e n @ a r t c e n t e r . e d u
room 227, wed 3:00-7:00pm

NET Lab Website

week 02a - ios design issues, assignments, influences


interactive design issues :	Like any medium, interactive objects and spaces have design considerations that are specific to the medium. This section reviews some important issues to address as an interactive designer.
designing behavior :	When designing the interactive part of embodied systems, a useful approach is to think of it in terms of designing its behavior. Before creating the interactive system and code, imagine that the project has a personality with certain intentions, attitudes, inner thoughts, values, ideas to communicate, and certain interests in what's going on around it. Your job as a designer is to create behaviors that reflect this personality and achieve the intentions and communications that the personality has. The personality does NOT need to be anthropormorphic or even "realistic." But the behavior should have a kind of coherency so that it makes sense to the user. A system with behavior has the folowing characteristics: percieves the world through its senses (hearing, sight, smell, etc.) - equivalant to sensors (knob, pressure, proximity, etc.) analyzes the world and decides how to act using their brain (which is thinking, memory, and ideas) - equivalent to code and data acts in the world by using their body (moving, speaking, touching, facial expressions, etc.) - equivalent to effectors (media, motors, light, sound, etc.) issues what is the personality of the system? intentions, attitudes, inner thoughts, values, ideas to communicate, interests in the world (sensors), means of acting in the world (effectors)? who is the audience and how should the system interact with this audience? how does this personality manifest in behavior? what affordances does the system have, and how are do these affordances reflect the personality? how does the system sense the world, and how does it affect the world? what do the behaviors you design communicate? is behavior a medium of communication? what emotions can you instill in your system? what physics can you give your system to make it seem to be a part of the world? examples how are cats and dogs different? compare a doorbell and knocking on a door imagine cars as having personalities - a sports car? an SUV? tamagotchi coverflow in iTunes and iPhone
donald norman :	Donald Norman literally "wrote the book" on the basics of usability in interaction design (though he didn't call it interaction design) in his book: The Design of Everyday Things. Go to this synopsis of the book for our discussion. Note that the emphasis of this book is on usability, which implies that the best design satisfies the accomplishment of specific user goals. But I would argue that when you think about interactive systems as more than functional tools, other design factors come into play. If the system is designed to communicate knowledge to the user, then usability becomes only one of several design factors. And if the system is designed for productive interaction where the user creates their own knowledge space, then it becomes a combination funcational tool AND communication, which adds further complications to the design equation.
arc of interaction :	Interactive systems present an activity for the user that happens over time. In the simplist terms, this is composed of encountering the system, interacting with it, and ending the interaction. How the designer controls this arc of interaction, from beginning to end, creates a distinct character to the system which deeply affects its effectiveness and style of communication. issues what's the setup - project name, physical introduction, instructions, collateral material? is the interaction continuous and even, or more punctuated and varied? how does the system output/display change over time (if at all)? is there a tempo/rhythm to the changes? stillness/action simplicity/complexity order/chaos type of information/expression. amount of output, intensity tone/mood is there a beginning, middle and end? how does the user get started? how does the interaction end? examples food vending machine Hear Music listening station/burner
single or multiple users :	While many interactive systems are specifically single user, this single user focus limits the power of the system in public and group situations. On the other hand, multiple user systems present a powerful and unique design opportunity where the outcome is the result of a collaboration between users. Or, a multiple user system simply makes for a more efficient use of the system, eliminating the one-person-at-a-time line-up. Plus, even seemingly single user systems such as cell phones turn out to have multiple user aspects. issues does the system allow for single or multi-person simultaneous interactions how does the system accommodate a group? can others watch/listen or otherwise participate if someone else is interacting? How many? how does the transition work when passing interaction from one user to another? Do people line up? Is the object passed from one person to the next? can a user choose to share outcomes or not? I.e. what are the privacy and social practices around the interaction and display? examples sharing a cell phone kiosk disneyland ride installation art online gaming
social affordance :	Interaction design involves not only the design of the relationship between the user and the system, but also the relationships the user has with other users and observers. issues social interaction happens as exchange of skills, tips, commentary, talk, play, strategy support and encourage with forums, cheat books, displays visible to others, ancillary materials--brochures, environmental graphics, advertising/promotion, viral marketing how can multiple people see/learn what's going on, pass the system around, switch from user to user examples copier games delicti kid airline ticket machine
learning curve :	Interactive systems range in their usability from having a zero learning curve (standard light switch) to very high learning curve (fighter jet cockpit). While some in the interaction field, like Jakob Nielsen, argue that there should always be no learning curve, it really depends on the goals and intent of the system being designed. issues will there be a learning curve? can you stage the learning requirements so the user can get something done easily, and then acquire skills? how do they learn? experimentation instructions can you make use of social affordances? how much previous experience does the design depend on? can you rely on standards to help eliminate learning curve, or will you violate standards to create a unique effect? examples video games flash websites, e.g. www.undocorp.com cell phone
site and scale issues :	Many interactive systems should be designed with a specific context and scale in mind. For example, if the system is an installation, it can often work better if the design considers the site specificity - lighting, form, purpose of site, etc. In addition, the scale of the work often dramatically impacts the effectiveness - small can draw attention, large can have greater impact, etc. issues how does the project relate to the site? ignore it? become integral to it or oppose it? what are the characteristics of the site? lighting, form, features history, use how will the scale of the project affect it? examples vietnam memorial original cell phone vs. current sized phones student pavilion
passive interaction :	An underexplored area of interaction design is what does the system do when the user is not interacting. The default is for the system to simply wait for the next user action. But there are many alternatives which involve the system interacting with itself--i.e. passive interaction. The system can make decisions on its own, present material, and continue to operate without user interaction every moment. issues does the system come to a stop when waiting for a user action? can it present something while waiting? can the narrative continue? does the system time-out after a certain period of inaction? is there an attract mode that introduces users to the system? examples video games theo's interactive story project

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