Why do you need interaction design?

Definition we love, from IxDA:

“Interaction Design (IxD) defines the structure and behavior of interactive systems. Interaction Designers strive to create meaningful relationships between people and the products and services that they use, from computers to mobile devices to appliances and beyond.”

Interaction designers focus on how users interact with things and utilize effective communication principles to produce desired user experiences. The goal of interaction design is to create engaging interfaces with well-thought-out actions. Understanding how users and technology interact with one another is critical in this profession. With this insight, you can anticipate how someone will engage with the system, identify and resolve difficulties, and design new methods of doing things.

Interaction Design vs User Experience Design

The connection between these two fields is not obvious: they are both new and overlap in some areas. As a result, some experts argue they are interchangeable, while others claim Interaction Design is a subset of user experience design.

That is because user interaction with the system is also a UX design responsibility, which also concerns other areas, such as information design — the one responsible for designing how to store and organize information.

We can say that UX design is a broader area of study of delivering a “usable” system to users.

In practice, when it comes to large projects, Interaction Design is in charge of developing wireframes, mockups, or website design prototypes, while other specialists are in charge of the overall planning and structure.

Although UX and interface design are interconnected, it’s practically difficult to produce an effective interaction design without first considering UX.

The main distinction between UX and interaction design is how we approach user interactions. Interaction designers are concerned with the point at which a user interacts with a product, and their purpose is to improve that interaction. The moment of engagement is merely one component of a user’s journey while interacting with a product, according to UX designers. All parts of a product or system that are visible to users are considered in user experience design.

Interaction design explores how a user interacts with an application and aims to optimize the experience of the users

5 Dimensions of Interaction Design

1D: Words — should be simple to grasp and written in a way that the end-user may readily understand them

2D: Visual representations — We can observe, record, and understand visual representations in a fraction of a second. Icons, forms, and backdrops, among other things, can be used as representations.

3D: Physical objects are tangible items that your user can interact with in order to manage and use your product. Physical hardware, such as a mouse and keyboard or a mobile device with which a user interacts, is one of these.

4D: Time — This dimension encompasses not only the amount of time people spend with your product but also any effects they may notice. It covers everything from how the user can track their progress to vibrations, sound, and animation, as well as any other means of communication you might utilize while the user engages with your product.

5D: Behavior- Kevin Silver brought the last layer to the scene. What Makes Interaction Design Design? This dimension is concerned with the manner in which interaction design is carried out; it is the flow in which any action, feelings, or reactions that the user has when interacting with the system are carried out.

An interface designer might use these five aspects to focus on the user’s experience when talking and connecting with technology.

Concepts/Characteristics of interaction Design

Goal Driven

Goal-driven design is a design approach that prioritizes problem-solving over anything else. The purpose of interaction design is to satisfy the specific wants and preferences of the individual who will use the product, and this method focuses on achieving that goal. What is the purpose of your website or interaction? Figure it out and make sure your application excels at doing this one thing.

Readability

Users must be able to read the product developed by IxD. For individuals who will utilize the product, it must be simple to comprehend and interpret. As a result, the design, the placement of spaces, the font selection, icons, and symbols must all be taken into account.

Usability

Usability is a prerequisite for successful interface design. The term “usability” refers to how simple the system will be to use. The more simple it is, the more usable it is. The interface designer must use tools like wireframes, mockups, or prototypes, to demonstrate usability before releasing the system.

Learnability

The ease with which people may learn to use your product to its full potential is referred to as learnability. How simple is it for a new user to learn how to utilize the interface? The key problem is guiding the user through the first learning curve that any new product entails. When designing things, making your product easy to learn (and discover) gets more difficult.

Affordances

Affordances, on the other hand, define the user’s relationship with their surroundings. What is your product’s underlying functionality? This is what the concept of affordance describes.

Salient Points

• Interaction design focuses on how users interact with things and utilizes effective communication principles to produce desired user experiences.
• Words, Visual representations, Objects, Time, and Actions are the 5 dimensions of interaction design.
• Interaction designers must keep in mind the purpose of the app or website and what is the end result that they expect and whether it aligns with users’ interests etc
• Designing the placement of spaces, the font selection, icons, symbols, etc makes the application or product comprehensible to the users.
• The application or web page should be easy to use.
• It must be easy for the user to learn the interface.
• The designer must add to the product clues about how to use it.