Learning to Design
Creating interactions between users and technology.
“Design is a plan for arranging elements to accomplish a particular purpose.” Charles Eames, Interview with Madame L’Amic at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais de Louvre in 1972.
While the labels of design and designer are culturally linked to pre-production art, technologists fit the term in a different way. In my role at Blue Sky Studios, the design disciplines (with regards to digital experiences) are fused together, incorporated under the title of Production Technology. Each new digital tool presents an opportunity for interface design (IxD). Each time we modify a user interface (UI), we’re changing the conversation between the user and the machine. We’re designing the user experience (UX). Ultimately, we’re designing a portion of whether end users have a “good day” or a “bad day,” whether they’re generally satisfied or consistently annoyed.
I didn’t always see the correlation between making a product and crafting an experience. For my entire college adventure, I’d worked multiple, overlapping jobs involving digital content: brand-building sites, advertisements, and (eventually) content and information management systems. By the time I was hired at Blue Sky Studios, I had a full portfolio and years of hands-on experience. However, while my design foundation was solid, I didn’t see digital media as an interactive experience. I wouldn’t make that realization until later, in the middle of my dissertation. As I researched social media’s impact on attitudes and culture, I coincidentally discovered theories and rules governing everyone’s experiences with digital media.
“Making something the boss wants and making something the customers want are not automatically the same thing.” -Adam Judge, “The Little Black Book of Design”
How do you delight people with a new feature? How can you confidently predict adoption? I looked for ways to learn more, that could fit my packed schedule, and wouldn’t require wheelbarrows of cash. That’s when I came upon the Interaction Design Foundation, an educational platform for technology designers. My first course (of many) was “Psychology of Interaction Design,” which digested content from resources like “The Design of Everyday Things” into 11 weeks of instruction, 10–20 lessons per week with mini-quizzes along the way. Unlike other platforms, testing leaned heavily on short answer and essay questions, and grades were respectfully permanent.
It was challenging to juggle the course material with my other responsibilities. However, the “no time limit” approach was a significant benefit, as it gave me an opportunity to leverage what’s called “the protégé effect.” I’d cycle through the material, and once a week, I’d try explaining it to my coworkers over lunch (using visuals and academic papers I’d cobbled together from various other sources). Nothing helps you stay focused quite like face-to-face accountability! We would chat about sensory perception, cognitive walkthroughs, and heuristic evaluations, referencing software already in use. We weren’t just evaluating user interface design, we were analyzing experiences based on established principles.
The meetings were called “Paper Jam,” a nod to an informal discussion (“jam”) about published research (“papers”), and a homonym for edible “jam,” its champion food. Alternate lunch hours were reserved for its sister meeting, “Cheesy Code,” which involved actual cheese! Both were collaborative learning opportunities, but “Paper Jam” was more focused on academic study. We projected slides, shared handouts, discussed real-world applications, and scribbled ideas on the whiteboard. Over time, the assortment of topics favored human computer interactions (HCI), and eventually the meeting became the nesting place for interaction design (IxD) reviews. From week to week, attendees from various departments would drop into the mix, offering their observations and participating in the discussions.
What’s the takeaway? Blue Sky Technology is a fellowship beyond frameworks and services. We’re designers creating software that aspires to be usable as well as useful, evaluating each tool from the perspective of the consumer. We’re creating end-user experiences, we’re designing “good days,” and we’re incorporating many disciplines to do it. When an audience watches films like Spies in Disguise, they’re watching a creation touched by many hands, each striving to contribute one-hundred percent. The time we’ve spent learning our craft, understanding its impact, and applying that knowledge is our contribution. That said, there’s always something new to learn, some new thing to explore, because regardless of the form it takes — design is everywhere.
Dr. Jennifer Brola has been a Production Engineer for over six years at Blue Sky Studios. Connect with her on LinkedIn and check out Blue Sky’s new SPIES IN DISGUISE trailer!
