Week 15: What is interaction design?

Task: What is interaction design? Have you changed your mind and if so, how? Or do you find that you still agree with what you wrote at the beginning of the semester? How would you define it and what do you think designers be thinking about when they think about interaction design?

It is the final medium post of Seminar I. I am still not clear about what is the interaction design is (and even what is the design is). However, from the readings and discussions during the class, I could experience new perspectives to see the design and the world in completely different scopes and ways that I had not tried before. I also could think about how the role of designers can be changed or expanded beyond the line that I had defined before. Those experiences gave me a chance of examining my definition of design that I had formed.

Reflecting on the first posting about interaction design, I found myself that I still agree with the idea — interaction design is a language between users and designers. All designs have users. They act as a medium between users and designers. The communication becomes successful when the designers considerately design the language that the users can easily understand, accept, and use. The range of language could be different according to the type or purpose of design.

While taking Communication Design Studio class, literally I learned how to be successful in communication with the users. We conducted projects about how to convey abstract information in concrete ways and how to visualize information with our own perspective and intent. It was one of the greatest experience of realizing what is the important roles or skills for a designer.

Interaction Design Studio I class which provided opportunities for designing on the new medium or technology made me think about what the interaction design is. Before jumping into the projects, I had to spend a lot of time trying to understand the grammar of those technologies — what VR allows or does not allow, what users might expect when they use VR, or what users might feel about talking with AI counselor. I felt sorry about myself that I actually could not spend enough time for this process because of the compact schedule, but it was a great preparation for me to understand how to deal with the new medium or technology as a designer.

Based on my learning from CMU, I think that those I explained above might be one of the most important things that designers should think about interaction design.