Interaction Design Concepts and Principles

So what really pushes forward the field of interaction design? What makes it different from just design? That line is pretty blurry. We mostly talk about interaction design because it carries weight and focus. But the reality is that interaction design is just one piece of good design in terms of digital, web and application design and development.

The “Complete Beginner’s Guide to Interaction Design”, published by UX Booth in 2009 is still a great reference. While some of the key players and tools have changed the concepts that drive interaction design are the same.

Here’s a look at each of those concepts:

• Goal-driven design: Why does your site or interaction exist? Figure it out and make sure your application does this one thing exceptionally well.
• Interface as magic: You don’t even really see the best interfaces. “The best interaction designs don’t exist: they don’t take a long time to load/respond; they don’t make users think, and they don’t give user’s cause for grief.”
• Usability: “Interfaces which make the state of the underlying system easy to understand and use are favoured.”
• Affordances: “The best (industrial/interaction) designs are those that speak for themselves; in which, as the saying goes, form follows function.”
• Learnability: “A great deal of what comprises a usable interface is made up of familiar components. … The best interaction designers don’t reinvent the wheel every time a similar design challenge comes. Rather, they call upon a set of patterns.”