P14: Interaction Design

The concept that stood out to me the most over the course of this semester learning about interaction design was accessibility. Not only did we learn about the best design approaches for accessibility, but it was also a theme that found its place in everything we learned.

User-centered design is, well, user-centered, data-driven, and interactive. It centers the enter design process around the people who will be using the design, and their tasks and goals drive the whole process. So, there are frequent reminders for the designers to constantly emphasize with their audience and analyze the use of their design.

A person in front of a laptop with multiple font styles on the screen, selecting one. Source: Claireneon on Wikimedia Commons, posted by https://customneon.co.uk/. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International

By centralizing the user, this also makes the design accessible. By paying attention to user characteristics in early prototyping or brainstorming, you begin to understand that no two users are the same, even within the same focus group. It then becomes practice to constantly re-analyze the design. Will everyone be able to use these specific functions? How can we make this information understandable and concise for everyone?

Accessibility is also prominent in later prototyping stages as well. Beyond early concepts, you are able to test the design in real-world situations and settings to see how users truly react. It allows the designers to understand if their design is usable, and if it usable for everyone.