Reflections on Interaction Design

Connor Treacy - 12160407

Foundations of Interaction Design - CS4052

[Type the company name] | Introduction

[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN]

Connor Treacy - 12160407

REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN

CS4052: Foundations of Interaction Design Connor Treacy - 12160407

1 INTRODUCTION
For the interaction design module I was part of a group with Fiachra, Mark, Andrew and myself. We decided to choose the issue of litter pollution as our main focus for this module. Our aim was to understand how to design a user interface that encourages students in the UL campus to reduce the amount of litter pollution as much as possible. In this report, I will discuss what interaction design actually is and why it is important. I was also describe the main phases of interaction design and describe the goal of the phases, why they are important and the methods to be used for them.

2 ON INTERACTION DESIGN
Interaction design aims to define and facilitate interaction between people by means of a product or a service. In design, humancomputer interaction, and software development, interaction design, often abbreviated IxD is the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services [1]. It is a learn by doing process. Interaction design is concerned with the behaviors and experiences that we can embed into everyday objects using digital materials such as software, electronics, and telecommunications. [2]

There are Five Essential Principles of Interaction Design: Consistency Perceivability Learnability Predictability Feedback

[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN] Connor Treacy - 12160407

I think the interaction design process is extremely important for the development of future technology as it helps designers understand how users like to use products and services and how they can be made easier and more user friendly to engage with. I also think Interaction design is important because it determines how people interact with computers and communications and determines the value of a communication service to its users, and the quality of experience they have when using it. I think that Interaction design shapes the kind of experience we have while engaging with modern products.

3 THE INTERACTION DESIGN PROCESS

The key characteristics of the process are to focus on users, to gather information on specific usability and to gather information on the user experience goal. The key characteristics of the process would be to focus on users and acquire specific usability for a variety of users. The Interaction Design Process contains four main phases:

The Understand Phase The Design Phase The Prototype Stage The Evaluate Stage

3.1 THE UNDERSTAND PHASE

The goal of the understand phase is to: Identify the needs of the users Establish the requirements of the users Get to know the target group Identify the opportunities and constraints of the interactive product.

We used the Questionnaire method to find out more about how people consume litter and how they dispose of it. The questionnaire contained simple, discreet questions for the person to answer and he gave this survey to 50 people. We also decided to use the Fly on the Wall method and simply observe the students on campus and how they dispose of their litter. We found that most students dont dispose of their litter properly due to laziness. We also made
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[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN]

Connor Treacy - 12160407

Powerpoint presentations to update our progress each week during the understand phase. I was the one who presented the presentations, Fiachra gathered the results for the survey, Mark came up with questions and Andrew asked the questions. Other possible methods we could have used are:

Behavioural Mapping - A method used to track the positions and movements of people within a space over time. Secondary Research This involves reviewing articles, book, and other academic documents to develop knowledge of the issue at hand. This is a useful way to ground observations and to develop a point of view on the issue. Guided Tours This would involve accompanying participants to take part in a guided tour of the relevant project-related places and activities they experience. Interview This would involve a face to face conversation with a particular candidate ask questions relating to the issue would be asked and opinions/views would be shared to help gather information. Focus Group - A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging. Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members.

I found the understand phase to be a very important phase for us as it gave us a very good understanding of the personnel we were observing and it gave us valuable information to base our work on. Unfortunately, this was a very time consuming process but it was definitely worth it in the end.

3.2 THE DESIGN PHASE

The goal of the design phase was to analyse how the user would interact with the newly created user interface. The design phase involved creating a report on scenario development. The information gathered in the understand phase should greatly assist the design phase. There are many methods that can be used such as: Bodystorming Role-playing Paper Prototyping Scenarios
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[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN] Connor Treacy - 12160407

All methods are used to develop and create various solutions and ideas to be used in the creation of a prototype so that they can be analysed and assessed. We decided to use the method of scenarios/storyboards. The goal of scenarios was to illustrate a story line describing the context of use for our product/service that we plan to design. Andrew and I were the ones creating the two storyboards/scenarios, while Fiachra and Mark were the ones writing the reports on each of the storyboard/scenarios. My scenario was about a man who is too lazy to look for bins and he just litters instead. In my scenario the man comes across this interactive screen which teaches him about the harmful effects of littering and then the man stops littering. I found that the Design phase was a very important phase in the creation of the user interface and I enjoyed creating a storyboard/scenario as it was fun and there was room for plenty of creativity whilst making them.

3.3 THE PROTOTYPE PHASE

The goal of the prototype phase is to create a workable model of the user interface. This phase is quite helpful as it allows designers to implement final changes before it goes into production. There were a few methods we could have used for the prototype stage:

Paper Video Wireframes

The method we used for the prototype phase was the creation of a short video based on one of our two scenarios. We decided to use Andrewss storyboard/scenario: New Beginnings. We recorded the video in the UL campus grounds over the space of two days. I did all of the editing for the video. Unfortunately, I encountered audio difficulties while editing the film as the speech could not be heard due to heavy winds. The only way I could resolve this issue was by putting subtitles at the sections where the speech could not be heard clearly. Other than that I had no real difficulties while editing the video. I found that the prototype phase was an extremely interesting phase as it allowed room for creativity during the production of the video. This phase was by far my favourite phase for that reason alone.

[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN]

Connor Treacy - 12160407

4 OVERALL REFLECTION ON THE GROUP PROJECT

The project was focussed on observing the UL Campus for litter pollution and aiming to reduce the amount of litter pollution on campus. The design idea should respond to provide playful and engaging possibilities for interaction and to increase peoples awareness, knowledge and sensitivity about the litter pollution issue. The objectives of the group project were to: Identify an issue of environmental concern in UL and conduct a brief series of studies to understand activities around it, people involved, relevant spaces, etc. Collect data from our studies and analyse them. Develop design ideas based on what we learned from our study on how interactive technology could be introduced to support, encourage or discourage certain activities of environmental concern. Visualise and communicate our design ideas through scenarios, storyboards and a prototype. Gain an understanding of the overall interaction design process.

My favourite phase of the whole project was definitely the prototype phase as I thoroughly enjoyed editing the video we produced. The prototype phase gave us a chance to show our creativity which was a main reason I enjoyed the phase. I liked the fact that the prototype phase made us think outside the box and come think of locations and times to record scenes for the video. It was hard to decide where and when to do the filming. We also encountered audio difficulties during the production of the video due to heavy wind. I was able to solve this problem by adding subtitles to the parts of the video where it is difficult to hear. Once we had that sorted we were able to continue without any difficulties. Unfortunately, I didnt really enjoy the understand phase very much as it was quite time consuming and at times, quite uninteresting. I felt that some of the research proved to be pointless as results turned out to be biased at times, due to small sample sizes. Other than that, the understand phase proved to be quite a valuable experience. I felt that our group accomplished all of the objectives above and I was quite satisfied overall. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this project as a group as it gave me very valuable experience of the interaction design process. We were able to work effectively as a group and work together to come up with solutions to the litter pollution issue. We now have a very good understanding of the whole process and it makes a lot more sense now. I found that learning about the four main phases of interaction design and doing tasks related to them made it much easier to understand the entire process of interaction design.

[REFLECTIONS ON INTERACTION DESIGN] Connor Treacy - 12160407

5 LESSONS LEARNED
I learned a lot about the interaction design process and each of its phases from understanding to designing ideas to prototype creation. I gained valuable experience when it came to the teamwork side of the whole process, the importance of setting up locations and times to meet and dealing with communication difficulties between group members. I learned that meeting up in person is a lot quicker and effective than communicating by phone, email etc. I also learned that we must also be able to listen to people, and we must be literate in graphic, product and spatial design. It is important that we integrate all the skills necessary to imagine, produce, and confirm excellent interaction design.

6 CONCLUSIONS
Interaction design has a very important role to play in our future. It has the power to transform technology. Technology is becoming increasingly embedded in our daily lives and the design of these interactions are extremely important. The interaction design module had its pros and cons. The only bad things I could say about the module was that some of the research methods during the understand phase were quite time consuming. My favourite phase was the prototype phase as I got the chance to edit the video and it gave us a chance to be creative and gave us plenty of choice/freedom to decide what to do. Overall I really enjoyed working on our project, particularly editing the video in the prototype phase since I have a hobby of video and audio editing. However, the most important thing this project has given me is the understanding of the broad field of interaction design and the interaction design process. It will definitely prove to be very valuable experience to me in the future and I am extremely glad I had the opportunity to study the interaction design module. I am looking forward to use what I have learned from this module in the future.

REFERENCES
[1] Encyclopaedia of Interaction Design, IDF Ltd, 2013 - http://interaction-design.org/
[2] What is interaction design?, Wyld Collective Ltd, 2013 - http://wyldco.com/services/intdes