Lecture Week 5

Summary

Understanding interface design, knowing contemporary examples of interface/interactivity and learning the fundamentals of screen based interface design can sum up a review of interface design. Interface design can also be summarised as; common boundary, between things, a point of interaction and a medium across which data passes. Examples of interface concepts and devices we have today are: screens, buttons, navigation, narrative, search engines game play and blogs etc.

Reflection

As a designer being able to identify the main adjectives not only seeing it at a designers view but as the users view makes the understanding of interface design much clearer and understandable. Breaking down the process of interface design can make any bigger problems that may arise shorten down the problem solving processes. Designers need to break down every stage and step to utilise what can and can’t be done.

Lecture Week 4

Summary

The Static and Kinetic Screen

Module 1: Play, Experience, Design

Interactive design can be summed up as:

• What they do
• What they look like
• What they look like they do
• The experience of using them

Static graphic composition is relative to eye-tracking.

Reflection

Being able to relate principles of static composition and visual hierarchy to contemporary definitions of interactive design are very important elements that a designer needs to put in consideration. Understanding what the design does, what it looks like, what it will do and the experience gained by using it are questions the designer needs to answer so that the final design can be effective and efficient for the user.

Summary

Module 2: Using What You Know

Static Composition and Visual Hierarchy

We have related the static compositional approaches and methods of:

• Point of Interest
• Contrast
• Tone
• Scale
• Colour
• Typography

As defined by Andy Polaine’s, interactive design is “making complicated (static) things easier and more pleasurable to use”.

Reflection

The static compositional approaches and methods are very important elements towards anything in interactive design, the designer needs to be able to understand and process the elements and information that they gather. The approaches and methods of point of interest, contrast, tone, scale, colour and typography are very important elements that bring the design the attention it needs.

Lecture Week 3

Summary

When designing products, there are specific steps which should be followed to ensure a successful final outcome. The design process in steps is as followed; pre project, concept and planning, design, prototype and specifications, production, testing and launch/maintenance.

After the design process comes the planning which involves personas and scenarios. Here it is essential to know the user persona, artefact persona and the user scenario; these three elements will help the designer understand the user and the product being created more clearly.

Reflection

To be able to design anything, there is always a process in which to follow to ensure the final product is successful. Being able to understand the users’ needs is critical as you need to be able to understand what the product is being created for and how it will be used when finalised. Understanding who the user is and what the product is will help the design process flow more smoothly.

Lecture Week 2

Summary

In interactive design there are five key design areas that contribute to the design of interactive products. These five key design areas are interactivity, information architecture, time and motion, narrative and interface. All together these five key design elements make up what essentially is interactive design. Interactivity, in computers is the dialogue that occurs between humans and a computer program, an example would be playing a video game where the user being the human interacts with the program.

Reflection

In reference to Bill Verplank, interaction designers have three vital questions they need to answer before they can proceed with any process, these three questions are about how people act, how they feel and how they understand. I think that every designer has to do their research which in this case are those three vital questions stated above as they need to be able to overcome any challenges or problems that may occur before they can progress any further when creating or designing any interactive products.

Lecture Week 1

Summary

Participation, convergence culture, convergent media thinking, interactive information sharing, interoperability, user-centred design and collaboration are all key features and elements that make up what web 2.0 is. From publishing to enabling functionalities to allowing users to create communities to share content, it shows how rapid the changes in technology are taking place. Online media such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, are types of web 2.0.

Reflection

Growth of technology has advanced over the years. Technology does not only shape who us humans are, but humans also shape technology and how it develops around us. The rapid increase in the usage of web 2.0 networks will eventually lead up to new inventions and to a new beginning of an era of new media and connectivity.