Product Design & the Art of Interactivity
Shaping digital products through interactive behavioral user experiences
The term Product Design can be quite a broad concept these days and can easily be confused with Industrial Design which is more focused on the aesthetic, usability and ergonomic aspects of physical products. On the other hand, the term Product Design has more recently been inclusive of software, service and even physical product design and packaging design.
Interaction Design
Within the world of designing products for digital consumers it’s important to realize the way your application behaves when a user interacts with it. Interactivity within a product is essentially creating an emotional attachment with a user.
No doubt the right interaction is always more important then having useless interactions that bring absolutely no value.
So how do we obtain this value? Interaction design doesn’t merely just focus on form as much as it is focused on behavior. Many interactions have been developed by analyzing human behaviors in the real world. Such natural interactions such as swipe to unlock, tap and hold, hovering over objects etc. are just a few examples that have been discovered to bring real value within product interaction, especially when the purpose of the interaction is clear. Even though some of these interactions can initially be viewed as abstract, they all play a part in being able to answer and complete a single goal within a product. It’s important to clearly communicate an interaction and it’s purpose. In the end how a user feels will ultimately decide whether or not he/she will continue to use and be attached to the product.
Bill Moggridge a designer from Britain, a pioneer in his field and an early adopter of adding a human-centred approach to design, championed the use of interaction design as a conventional design discipline.
“If there is a simple, easy principle that binds everything I have done together, it is my interest in people and their relationship to things.”
— Designer, Bill Moggridge
Bill Moggridge along with interaction designer Bill Verplank coined the phrase “Interaction Design” in the mid-1980s.
A Few Methodologies
Goal-oriented design, Personas, Cognitive Dimensions and Affective Interaction Design.
Goal-oriented design is all about satisfying the desires and needs of a users interaction with a product or service. Finding that balance of creating complex user interfaces yet with a user friendly approach.
Personas are essentially fabricated users all with unique back stories who use a product. The purpose for personas is to be able to develop an accurate description of what the ideal user wants to accomplish with the product. Creating personas can also help with eliminating idiosyncrasies that may be applied to an individual.
Cognitive Dimensions provide a specialized vocabulary necessary for analyzing and modifying different design solutions. This process helps with creating new designs from old ones and exploring the possibility of design changes through design maneuvers which are supposed to alter and improve the design within a particular dimension.
Affective Interaction Design focuses on positive, negative, motivational, learning, creative, social and persuasive influences within a interface or product. Aspects of this include colours, fonts, graphical layouts, icons, sounds and animations.
“I think life is mainly a dialogue with other people.”
— Product Designer, Peter Schmidt
A Designers Role
From designing digital interfaces to designing physical products, the role of a designer should ultimately be about advancing and improving a way of life and communication between people. Shaping products that leave positive effects when users interact with them.
