How to Create a Design Idea

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How to Create a Design Idea

A complete guide to interactive design for the beginner

Interactive design has its roots in web and graphic design, but over time it has detached and become its own entity. It's more than just working with text and photos, interaction designers are responsible for creating every element on the screen that the user can click, write, or move. In short, it mediates interaction as an experience.

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What is an Interactive Design Idea ?

Interaction design is defined as the structure and behavior of interaction systems. Interactive designers try to create meaningful relationships between the people, products and services they use - from computers and mobile devices to use in other areas (fit bracelets).

Interactive design is the process of connecting the digital world with the real. It's about creating a web design that looks as real in the digital world as it does in the real world.

This link helps people use and interact with digital products and services, from desktops, mobile devices and smartphones to websites, applications and games. Interactive design is a concept that combines all the design and functions that we know into one whole.

The interactive design began on the day the first screen was created for more than just a static copy. Everything from the button to the link to the form that needs to be filled in is an interactive design. Over the last few decades, several books have been published that describe interactive design and explain how it transcends into experiential design.

This design was developed to facilitate interaction between people and their environment. Unlike experience design, which includes all aspects faced by the user, interaction designers are only interested in specific interactions between users and the system.

It's more than just a collection of the most interesting features. Research at Penn State University has shown that users are more easily persuaded to convert using messages on websites that have interactive features.

We know the methodologies, Although interactive design ranges from a myriad of websites and mobile applications, there are certain methodologies on which it is based.

Goal-Driven Design

Goal-driven design was popularized by Alan Cooper in his book "The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity", published in 1999. Cooper defined it as a design that has the highest priority. function to solve problems. In other words, this design focuses primarily on meeting the specific needs and desires of the end user, unlike traditional design methods, which focused on what was then possible on the web with technology at the time. At present, some of the things Alan has described seem clear, as designers seldom choose interactions purely on the basis of programming constraints. The main point of this methodology is that everything revolves around meeting the needs of the end user and the needs that are inevitable today as well as in the past.

This process needs to meet 5 points:

First design, then programming - in other words, goal-driven design begins with thinking about how users think (and how things look).

Separate design responsibility from programming responsibility - This point takes into account the need to have an interactive designer who will make the process easier on the web without the designer tackling the programmer about technical limitations. The designer should also have full confidence in the programmer in the correct execution of all technical aspects.

Assign responsibility to the designer for product quality and user satisfaction - even though clients have their own goals, the interactive designer should be responsible for the person sitting behind the screen on the other side.

Define one specific user for a product - this idea is currently being invented for something we know as people. Cooper reminds us to link the person to the product and constantly ask questions like: Where will the user use this? Who's this? What does he want to achieve?

Work in a team of two - interaction designers should never work in large groups. Collaboration with other members should be ensured by a "design communicator". He was a copywriter in Cooper's role in 1999 who provided marketing copy for products, but during that time the role was fragmented into project manager, content strategist, information architect and other positions.

5 dimensions

In the book Interview with Bill Moggridge, Designing Interactions, Gillian Crampton Smith, an academic focused on interaction design, introduced the concept of the four dimensions of the so-called "Interactive design language". In other words, these dimensions create interactions with each other, and the result is communication between the user and what he sees on the screen.

The 4 original dimensions are words, visual representation, physical objects, or space and time. Kevin Silver, senior interaction designer at IDEXX Laboratories, added a 5th dimension, behavior. So what do the individual dimensions describe?

words - should be easy to understand and written in such a way as to easily communicate information to the user. visual representation - graphics, photos and basically everything that is not text. They should be used sparingly and not too much. physical objects or space - all physical hardware, whether a mouse or keyboard and a mobile device, that a user uses. time - which the user spends using the first three dimensions. It includes ways in which the user can measure progress, as well as sounds or animations.

Behavior - These are the emotions and reactions that the user experiences when using systems. Using these five dimensions, the interaction designer can pay attention to what the user is experiencing when communicating with the system.

Cognitive psychology

Cognitive psychology is a study that deals with the way our mind works and what mental processes take place in it. According to the American Association of Psychologists, these processes include attention, language use, memory, perception, problem solving, creativity, and thinking.

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Although psychology is a relatively large field, there are several key elements of cognitive psychology that are particularly useful and can be used in interaction design. Don Norman wrote several of them in his book The Design of Everyday Things, and here are a few:

Mental models - images in the user's head that inform about his expectations during certain interactions or system. By learning the mental model, interaction designers can create systems that look intuitive.

Metaphors for the interface - the use of familiar elements to guide users to new activities. A good example is a desktop bin that gives the user an idea of ​​what it is for.

Accessibility - things that not only look like they are designed for a certain activity, but are also made to look like something needs to be done with them. E.g. such a call to action (hereinafter CTA) button looks like a physical object that can be pressed.

Human Interface Guidelines

This name is a bit misnomer, because there are really no clues for people. The idea is in the methodology itself. The guidelines were created by most tech businesses, such as Apple and Android, or Java and Windows. The goal is the same everywhere - to draw the attention of prospective designers and developers to advice and recommendations that will help them create truly universal intuitive interfaces and programs.

Guiding principles

Interaction is a combination of design principles with the principles of human emotions and interactions. When deciding how a digital project should work, think about how you use it and interact with your favorite tools. Think about each of these concepts. Impulse (motion) - When you think of impulse and interactive design, the first thing that comes to mind is clicking or dragging, because these are the user's actions that activate the design elements. Space - What type of environment does the user interact with? Is the design created in 1,2 or 3-dimensional space? Is the space just part of the screen, or does it play a role?

 

The time the user spends interacting will affect whether or not they continue to interact.

There is a delicate balance between the fun of the interaction and the time it takes to complete it. Think about the goal and how long the interaction should last.

 

Sound - one of the most debated parts of interactive design. While some people like it, others are immediately poisoned. If you're thinking about sound, always think of users who want to turn off this feature immediately. The design must work just as efficiently without sound.

 

Aesthetics - every element of design plays a role here. What does it all look like? Does it give the desired message? Gap, color, typography, contrast and readability play important roles in the visual aspect of interactive design.