Elijah Carrington
2/18/15
Designing for New Media
Interaction design is creating products, relative to their baseline, that solve problems. Through standardization and conceptualization, everything is designed for a reason. Whether that reason is to fulfill a promise, solve a problem, or change behavior, design is here to stay. Anything that we touch, see, use, and ultimately understand is interactive design.
I agree that there is a story for every object, especially those that have many revisions and information passed down. Find the products that no one cares about, where extremes will influence revision, and can be changed for the better. Design a better experience through iterative ergonomic processes. At Smart Design, rapid prototyping is implemented to quickly figure out ergonomics and ensure CAD aligns.
Making products usable, understandable, unobtrusive, truthful, aesthetic, is what good design is about. Design is how you look at the world, and asking why? Materials, physical-form, connection are focused on getting design out of the way. Enable the product, do not distract from it. Ensure hierarchy, and show that choices are calm and considered solutions. Form follows function as a manifestation. Designers interpret and understand what people need, better than they do. Good design distinguishes from relativistically ill-thought solutions.
The most important question regarding interaction design is: What form should this object take and why? Derived questions include: What feelings do the sensorimotor actions invoke? Will this product last and how much will it cost?
Designers will be the culture generators and translators for the rest of the world that needs to be taught what things are and how to use them. We translate using icons, colors, feelings, pictures, text, and so on, to achieve a transferable message. This message will have a lasting impact on the audience, only if it survives the true tests of design and makes its way into the consumer’s mind.