HCDE 210 Process Blog: IxD Sprint

Getting into interaction design

October 7, 2016

For the green thumb in you

Our first sprint focused on interaction design and prototyping software applications. The focus was on citizen science, and for my studio session, specifically on plant health in King County. We started with brainstorming scenarios and possible users, along with some ideas for app functions and screens in studio. Then it was off to individual work, where I started to develop my prototype. I started off with planning an overview so I could focus on the content and function before designing my screens.

I now had my plan for who the user was, the app’s intended function, and how the user would interact with the app. The next step was to start designing the interface, which I decided to draw in a paint program. I knew that the focus was on the interactions and not necessarily the aesthetics, and tried to keep that in mind while designing my screens. In retrospect, a paper prototype may have helped me focus on the interactions more, but designing in a paint program was still enjoyable nonetheless!

Too much fidelity?

One of the big questions in my mind during the whole time was whether or not my prototype was appropriate for the project. The focus of the project was on interaction flow, and not so much on aesthetic. Although I tried to keep my focus on interaction flow and accessibility, I wonder if creating a design on the computer took away from the focus on interaction design. Creating a short demo video was also a challenge. Providing enough information while still keeping the video under 90 seconds was the most difficult part, and I constantly found myself rushing through explanations or passing the time limit while recording.

Hamburgers and Plants

I would say that as a whole I enjoyed the project, but my favorite part was definitely the prototype mockup. When planning out my screen layouts, I made connections with some common design practices (Like the famous “hamburger menu”), and gained some more insight on why these design practices were so common. Thinking from a user’s perspective was also invaluable in helping me decide what information to display in the prototype, and where to display it. The choice of a focus in plant health, a field I never thought I’d be designing for, also forced me to think outside the box and not just mimic other popular apps.

Interaction design may perhaps be one of my favorite aspects of user centered design. It’s only one of many though, and I’m looking forward to exploring other aspects of design and seeing what they have to offer.