Interaction Design Charrette

Interaction Design was the focus of the lab for week 2. In this lab we learned more about how one designs the interaction between the user and the product and what aspects affect the decisions one makes while designing those interactions which we then put into practice to produce a paper mock up of an app.

What we did

Lab started with an opening exercise where we compared different interactions one could have with different interfaces. These interfaces included pop-up ads, weather apps, online information forms, and an alarm setting app.

After discussing these interactions the instructors gave us our prompt for the weeks deliverable: to create a mock up of an app that facilitates a citizen science goal, specifically plant health in King County.

Groups were assigned one section of the board to populate with ideas pertaining to a specific facet of the app

The class broke up into groups to discuss and ideate the different aspects that an app such as the one outlined would entail such as possible numeric and sensor data that could be collected, what type of citizens we were targeting as users, use of geo-tagged photos, and a motivation to keep users participating among other things.

After all the ideas were up on the board we then split off to work on our mock ups through the POPapp.

Reflection

I felt that this lab built upon some of the topics we discussed before and gave us a very hands on activity to practice the aspects of interaction design that were the focus of this weeks classes. I really liked using POP to take our paper prototypes to the next level.

The POP interface. With my prototypes screens

One way I would improve the charrette would be to add a little bit of time so that groups could present their ideas to the others in the class for clarifications sake because some of the things put on the board were slightly vague and could have used more clarification.

Future

A common thing I have learned from the lab sessions so far is the shear size of the process of designing a product and the ways to go about solving the challenges that are inherent in a products design. Tackling a problem from different sides and then combining solutions is a formidable way to make a solution.

I think that learning this will help me apply different strategies to other tasks I have to complete in the process of a day.