Also, I want to hasten to add that by objecting to the term, "genius design," I'm in no way objecting to Dan Saffer's excellent book and work. Nor am I objecting to his attempt to describe this generally different approach to design.
I think "Designing For Interaction" is a major positive accomplishment and contribution to our field. I simply think that this specific term is inadequate, and potentially misleading and subject to being construed as pejorative. In mountain climbing there's the term used to describe the style of climbing that Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler used (climbing without oxygen or fixed ropes) - "Alpine Style." Our field needs a similarly non-judgemental term to describe rapid, expert, intuitive, informed design that doesn't imply some superhuman or extraordinary individual qualities. The style that Dan describes in his book does not stem from being born with all the experience and innate genius necessary to practice this approach. It's a skill that must be learned and honed over years, and informed by constant and widespread awareness of developments in the field, other successful models (even when not directly in the same domain), and probably a penchant for being a generalist and enjoying some level of measured risk and pressure. And this approach is very much in the service of the "user," and that's why I, personally, dislike the term, "user-centered design," as it implies that other approaches are not aimed at or centered around the benefit of the end users. This is simply not true. Our field is rife with a wide range of inadequately tested assumptions and prejudices based on both predominant approaches of the largest groups of practictioners as well as extreme unfamiliarity with the complexities and nuances of other valid approaches to Interaction Design. It's my belief that our field will benefit most from avoiding hard categorical definitions, and instead embrace the diversity of approaches and combinations of pursuits inherent among our wide range of pracitioners. These definition efforts always run the risk of leading to more unnecessary restriction than enlightnment and usefully expansive inclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=24685 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
