Interaction Design Course Syllabus

What the class is about
What you should expect to do
About the Instructor
Curriculum:

The Interaction Design Process
Interface Design
Information Design
Interaction Design
Sensorial Design

What the class is about:


Interaction Design is the art of effectively creating interesting and compelling experiences for others. It applies to all forms of interaction, all products, and all media. Unfortunately, not only are few of us ever taught about explicitly creating experiences, almost all of the focus on interface design and multimedia has been centered around the technology instead of the interaction. The current backlash against CD-ROMs, for example, has everything to do with how they were designed and what they allow audiences to do and little with the technology.

What people find interesting, the kinds of activities they choose to spend money on, and the things that excite them and are memorable, have not changed much since recorded history began. Indeed, we can expect it to change little in the next 1000 years--long after any of us need to concern ourselves with? This class will describe many of the key components of interaction and how to use these components in the creation of experiences. Special attention will be given to the process of uncovering the opportunities for rich and satisfying interactions in any product, media type, or "platform."

What you should expect to do:


This class will include examples of successful interactive "products" from a variety of sources and media, but it will be focused on those in electronic and online media. Many should come from the experience and interest of the students themselves as the group is challenged to apply these principles to their current work. Participation from the audience is mandatory and there will be many opportunities for glossary, arguments, and fist fights (if it comes to that).

The class will mostly be lectures and projects. There will be one, quarter-long project as well as several smaller, weekly assignments. These projects will be discussed and critiqued during class time so you should be ready to share the thoughts behind your decisions. The more provocative and experimental, usually the better. You will have actual choices over the projects you undertake so be prepared to make decisions quickly if necessary. However, be prepared to defend your ideas. There will be some assigned reading but most of the material will be covered in the lectures.
What you need to know:

No current knowledge of Interaction Design or Interface Design is necessary but a general understanding of communications, media, and the interactive media industry is encouraged. Since everyone has experience with experiences, every student should already be amply qualified to learn more about applying what they implicitly understand to the problems of creating "interactive media." Each student will learn ways to apply these principles to their present discipline and current work. While the class should be stimulating and fun, it's content--as well as its interaction--will be serious and valuable.

Students will need access to the World Wide Web. It is not necessary to have experience with authoring tools, such as Director, but any working knowledge of these programs will definitely help--if only in the quality and extent of your project development. However, if you don't know multimedia tools, you will still be able to participate fully. Any knowledge of the performing arts (acting, improv, storytelling, etc.) will be especially useful.

About the Instructor


The instructor, Nathan Shedroff, is an experienced interface designer (which by his definition includes information and interaction design disciplines). He is currently Creative Director and a co-founder of vivid studios, a production company of online "places" and events. He has contributed to more than 40 print products and 40 electronic products. He was a Senior Information Designer at TheUnderstandingBusiness in San Francisco. Before that, he earned a degree in Industrial Design from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.

The Interaction Design Process

Topics:

Concept and Planning

Goals and Meta-goals (discovering and agreeing):

Working with Clients
Working with a Team

Audience and Medium (discovering and defining):

Primary and Secondary Audiences
(demographics, market share, beliefs, expectations, interests, age, gender, and capabilities)

Messages

Primary and Secondary Messages
Branding

Technological Concerns:

Platforms, Operating Systems, Authoring Systems

Market and Competitive Concerns

Environmental Analysis
Competitive Analysis
Positioning
Market Segmentation
Whole Product Planning

Requirements Document

Proofs of Concepts

Design, Prototyping, and Specifications

An Information Design Process

Organizing Things
Presentation

Interaction Design

Brainstorming
Spectra of Interactivity

Prototyping
User testing
Market Testing
Iteration
Product Specifications
Production Matrixes

Production

Testing

Manufacturing

Distribution

Follow-up and Maintenance


Resources:

Multimedia Demystified
vivid studios' Process Outline
Bibliography

Assignments:
1
· Choose a class project
· Develop a description of the audience, goals, messages, and technological concerns (Requirements Document)

Interface Design

Topics:

Interface design is the combination of Information Design, Interaction Design, and Sensorial Designs

Types of Interfaces:

Print (books, directories, catalogs, stories, maps...)
Electronic (applications, utilities, consumer devices, kiosks, computers, "titles," industrial applications...)
Online (services, the Web, the Internet, intranets...)
Realtime/Realspace (performances, improvisation...)

Interactivity is the key differentiable advantage of electronic media. We have had multimedia for awhile (as long as we have had pictures and text together) but what is different now is interactivity.

What's so interactive about interactivity?

What's so interactive about the following:

television
telephone
parties
conversations
lectures
cinema
improvisation

What is an experience?
What do we find compelling, interesting, engaging, and enduring?
What are examples of memorable experiences in your life?
Takeaways, Generation X, by Douglas Coupland

Action, reaction, and interaction

100 years: Applying a new measure for interactions and experience. What is the role of technology in creating or mediating experiences.

A Taxonomy of experiences: how can we look at the range of experiences people have and find common connections between them? How can this highlight the differences and uncover the most compelling experiences?

A Taxonomy of the senses: how to people perceive and how can this affect the creation and presentation of experiences?


vision
hearing
touch
smell
taste
kinetics
electromagnetics


Is the world getting bigger or smaller?

Resources:

Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design
Resources

Assignments:

· Continue to develop class project Requirement Documents.
· Analyze successful and memorable experiences in your own life. What experiences do you enjoy? Repeat? Anticipate? Pay for?

Information Design

Topics:

Information and the understanding spectrum:

Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom
(where interaction exists)
Data is not Information
Knowledge and Wisdom are personal experiences but can be supported with context, content, and structures.
Organizations (and meaning within different organizations):
Number
Alphabet
Magnitude
Category
Location
Time
Randomness

Advanced Organizations

Emotions

Multiple Organizations

Redundancy
Multiple points of entry
Multiple learning styles
Multiple using styles (browsing, searching, building...)

Metaphors and Cognitive Models
(how to develop, when to use, and when to abandon)
New cognitive models can revolutionize an audience's understanding of a data set.

Information Overload and Anxiety

Using basic concepts as building blocks
Primary organizations
Clarity vs. Simplicity (and the importance of complexity)
Misinformation and disinformation

Navigating Information

Horizontal and Vertical (bredth and depth)
2D and 3D
In print, electronic, online, performance, etc.
Maps, diagrams, timelines, charts, etc.
Wayfinding
Links
Bookmarks and path marking (showing all options, breadcrumbs, etc.)
Signposts


Resources:

Bibliography

Assignments:
2
Choose one of the following assignments:
· Organize a website of city tourist information.
· Organize a multimedia encyclopedia CD-ROM.
· Organize a grocery store.
· Organize the office plan for a medium sized software development company (200 employees).
· Organize a book about automobiles.

3
Develop Information Design for class project and

4
Choose one of the following assignments:
· Outline a net-based promotion for a television show
· Outline a directory of Stanford's faculty, administration, and students
· Outline a CD-ROM-based electronic workbook about personal taxes
· Outline a live real space/real time interactive event

Interaction Design

Topics:

Action, reaction, and interaction

The Interactivity Spectra (Passive to Interactive)

Control (influence)

Choice

Feedback

Creative and Productive experiences and technologies
(doing/making/building...)
Examples: MUDs and MOOs, Voices of the 30s, KidPix, PageMaker ('zines), Go Fish and Clerks (homegrown movies).

Co-creative experiences and technologies (help and confidence)
Examples :advanced help systems, advice systems.

Communications and Conversational experiences and technologies (connecting/meeting/sharing/conversing/storytelling)
Examples: Chat, USENET, IRC, CUSeeMe, Voices of the 30s, NAMES website.

Community-building experiences (physical vs. virtual)

"Physical Communities are based on adversity: there is no choice about associating. Online communities last shorter because the only thing holding them together is shared interest: there is always the choice to leave.'-John Perry Barlow

Adaptive experiences and technologies (personalized experiences)

Temporal experiences
Examples: Microsoft Windows 95 Launch Site

Spatial experiences
Examples: VRML, Myst, vivid website maps, Microsoft Windows 95 Launch Site

User interests and preferences
Examples: Bank of America website, FireFly music agent, Fishwrap custom newspaper

User behavior

Navigation

Stasis vs. Dynamism

Change

Predictability

Variety


The Interactivity Cube (integrating Content and Media)
Examples: Tropical Fish CD-ROMs, television, typical websites, net.hunts, user-generated discussion groups

Agents

Guides

Anthropomorphism

Social Issues

Acting and Improvisation
Examples: Theatersports

Characters and narratives (stories)
Creating new narratives
Examples: Myst and role-playing games, MUDs and MOOs

Storytelling

Working with Established Narratives
Examples: Johnny Mnemonic net.hunt

Creating New Narratives
Examples: The Spot, SGI net.hunt, beverlyhills.com

Perspective: 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, etc.
Examples: Myst, Sonic the Hedgehog, SimCity

Multiple Points of View
Examples: Guides 3.0, Finding Your Voice, Ghosts, Danny Goodman's Macintosh Handbook

Resources:

Resources

Assignments:
5
Develop the interaction design for class project and choose one of the following assignments:
· Design a live real space/real time interactive event
· Design a Storybook game
· Design a website/CD-ROM hybrid for a classic movie

6
Choose one of the following assignments:
· Design a character-based electronic library
· Design an online shopping experience
· Design a (print) book for adults that is interactive (any topic)

7
Choose one of the following assignments:
· Design a character-based electronic library
· Design an online shopping experience
· Design a (print) book for adults that is interactive (any topic)
· Develop an interactive storytelling product
Sensorial Design

Topics:

Text/Writing

Good Instructions
Writing Style
Editorial Voice
Chunking
Terminology and Lingo
Style Guides and Templates
Language Differences and Translation


Visuals

Graphics/Style
Typography

Legibility
Style

Illustration/Style
Symbols/iconography

Spectrum between symbolism and realism
Consitency in style/family
When not to use symbols
Mulitcultural issues
Redundancy

Layout

White Space, marginalia, positive and negative space
1st, 2nd, 3rd Reads
Guidelines, Grids, and Templates
Visual Literacy

Maps
Charts/Diagrams/Timelines
Color

Meaning and Color-coding
Warm/Cool: diffuse/sharp
Color Theory Literacy: 3D, Transparency, Size/Wcale
Contrast (Designing in Black & White first)
CMYK, RGB, HSL, CMY, HSB, Pantone, Trumatch, ColorCurve, Toyo, YUV, etc.)
Transparency and Scale

Photography

Focus, Exposure, Lighting, Background, Color, Background, Color Balance, Contrast, Pt. of View/Frame, Composition (long, medium, close, extreme close-up, Rule of Thirds), Cropping


Identity

Branding


Animation

2D, 3D (quality, style, cel/flipbook, modeling)


Video/Cinematography

Movement: Panning, Tilting, Craneing, Tracking, Dollying, Zooming
Visual Literacy
Cuts & Shots: Style, Effect, Movement, Reactions, Reverse-angle, Reverse-cutaways, travel axis, action axis, camera angles, subjective vs. objective, continuity.
Storyboards


Sound

Synchronization
Composition
Stereo/Mono, Spatial
Music: foreground, background, MIDI
Voice: voice to text, text to speech, recorded, Language, Accent, Intonation
Effects


Resources:

Resources

Assignments:
Choose one of the following assignments:

 

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