Interaction Design Explained

Interaction Design Explained

Iain

I have recently been asked several times what I do for living

I usually reply with something vague such ‘Designer’, which usually suffices and ends the conversation. But occasionally, somebody might ask me ‘Oh ok. What do you actually DO then?’

Preaching to the converted

Explaining my job to somebody else in the industry is easy, as my choice of idiom above would indicate. I can reel off as many acronyms as I wish, UI / UX / IA / UAT etc, whilst simultaneously discussing look & feel documents, discovery sessions and functionality requirements gathering, without breaking a sweat.

Explaining my job to somebody outside of the design and development world, in a clear and concise manner, is something which I don’t think I have ever achieved. I seem to always retain the feeling of your Mother saying ‘thats nice dear’, a dismissive ‘pat on the back’ response, without the person concerned taking away any real apprehension of my employment duties.

I am not comfortable with the phrase ‘layman’s terms’ which would suggest my job is hugely complex. What I do is not rocket science. It’s a skill that has some degree of natural talent combined with an education, like most skilled jobs in society. But my previous efforts to break down my job into easily digestible chunks have failed. I am writing this post primarily to ensure the next time I am offered this question, I can respond with an answer that makes sense. Avoiding responses like ‘Ohhh, I get it, you color things in’.

Nothing Tangible

One aspect I feel difficult to describe regarding our chosen profession, from a digital designer or developer’s perspective, is the lack of something tangible. A carpenter makes objects out of wood, that he can see, touch, smell, hear and if, he so chooses, taste. Falling short of printing out the website, there is no physical object to present. Showing somebody a website on a mobile device and proudly exclaiming ‘I designed and built that’, rarely achieves the desired response. This is because people do not realise the amount of work, from multiple people in a team, that goes into a website or application.

It should also be noted that, generally speaking, the front end, what the user actually can actually see on their device, comprises of around 20 – 50% of the work, dependent on requirements and budget, of any given project. The rest is line after line of server side coding, HTML, CSS and Javascript, invisible to the end user.

Complicated life cycle

Designing and building a website or a mobile application is often an iterative process, meaning that the product goes through multiple releases, updates and enhancements. Very rarely can a digital design and build team say ‘there’s the finished product, it’s done’, knowing they will never touch the design or code again. To revisit the carpenter metaphor, when he has designed a chair, he builds it. It’s a finished product, sold to the consumer, who then sits on it – and the cycle is complete.

Design process explained

The various acronyms mentioned above can make up the basics of a digital projects design process. Lets take a very brief look at each in turn.

RG – Requirements gathering

Requirements gathering is the process of taking the brief, discussing the projects goals, and deliverables, and anything likely to be needed or used along the way.

UI – User Interface

The User Interface, or ‘Front-end’, is the side of the application or website that the user can see and interact with, either in their browser, or on their mobile device.

IA – Information Architecture

Information Architecture is the art planning and organising the data structure a website or application will use.

UX – User Experience

The User Experience can be defined by asking what the user felt whilst using a product, and what emotions we could use to describe this, in either a positive (good) or negative (bad) outcome.

UAT – User Acceptance Testing

Once a digital product has been completed, User Acceptance Testing is the process of allowing users to use the product and give the design team valuable feedback.

If we look at each of these elements, we can form the loose basis of the design & build of a digital product. Lets put these elements into a simple visual metaphor to better understand there importance, and most importantly, each elements individual role, and necessity, to realising a digital project. A simple task, such as making a cup of Tea for example, can be used as a metaphor to visually define the process.

Requirements gathering

User Interface

Information Architecture

User Experience
User Expectance Testing

This is one way of looking at, and describing the digital design process in very simple terms. I will in future be using this metaphor next time somebody asks me, ‘What do you do ?’.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *