<snark> Beside turning the page of a brochure - what are some other types of interactions between a user and a brochure? Taking it out of the envelope? </snark>
On Jan 29, 2008 12:11 PM, Mark Schraad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I agree entirely Jim. I know interaction designers that specialize in > brochures. > > The definition of this group, as a desciption of self is getting a bit > tiresome. > > Mark > > > On Tuesday, January 29, 2008, at 12:02PM, "Jim Leftwich" < > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >The phrase "interface design up to this point" and calls to limit > >the definition of Interaction Design and the scope of IxDA invites an > >examination of the term's history. > > > >The definition of Interaction Design isn't, (and more importantly) > >won't *ever* be, limited to just the "digital" domain because it > >never was and isn't inherently limited in that manner as a practice > >in reality. The term "Interaction Design" itself, which was coined > >by Bill Moggeridge and Bill Verplank at IDTwo (one of the three > >companies that combined to become IDEO) in the mid-to-late 1980s, > >represented the design of interaction across a variety of > >technologies and product and system design boundaries. Interaction > >Design certainly involves design of any and all patterns of usage. > > > >Interaction Design was a term I was able to easily adopt around 1987, > >for something I'd been practicing in the design consulting field > >since 1983 on products, software, systems, and combinations thereof. > > > >The first interaction designs I did involved designing and modeling > >the interaction of users with physical components in devices and > >equipment that had multi-step processes. As more and more equipment > >began to include digital components and digital control and > >information, that also became part of what was involved in the > >interaction design. Fairly recently, an interaction design project > >of mine (as a component of designing medical equipment that I also > >did the industrial design, physical controls design, and information > >architecture for), involved analyzing, modeling, and designing > >physical components involved in the device's physical interaction > >that were not associate with the product's digital features and > >functions. To separate various aspects of the device's interaction > >into technological domains (presumably to be handled by separate > >designers, or one designers who's very conscious to take off a hat > >with one label and put on another hat with another label) is, in my > >opinion, somewhat absurd and completely overlimiting to our field as > >a whole. > > > >I'm happy to see Victor Papanek's name come up in this thread, as > >he was the head of my alma mater, KCAI's School Of Design, and left > >an indelible mark of wholistic approach to Design at our department. > >There's probably not a day that goes by that I'm not grateful for > >having had the great fortune to study a wide scope of Design (from > >typography and corporate identity to computers and software to > >industrial design and manufacturing technologies) and thus having > >been equipped to enter my career without the limiting boundaries and > >categories that have preoccupied so many in the field, and kept many > >more from pursuing the opportunity to design a greater range of the > >interactive aspects of products, systems, and environments. > > > >I realize that many of the members of IxDA are web designers, and > >live and breathe entirely within the virtual realm or within the > >bounds of software running on devices. This is understandable. > > > >But it's altogether another thing, and a highly regrettable thing at > >that, when the specialists begin to demand that the field of > >Interaction Design, or IxDA be similarly limited in scope. > > > >Limiting Interaction Design, or IxDA, to just the digital stems from > >a myopia of the non-generalists, who make up the wide part of the > >field's Bell Curve (due to the huge number involved exclusively in > >the web and software). And furthermore, I think this myopic > >insistence on categorization, limitation, and specialization has led > >to many products and systems being very poorly designed, > >interaction-wise. Think the vast majority of mobile phones and > >devices and equipment. Specialization and insistence on limited > >scope for something as *necessarily* all-encompassing as Interaction > >Design is the first step towards a dangerous "dilution of > >responsibility" among specialists. At best, this leads to inelegant > >bolted-together separate design efforts. At worst it leads to more of > >the type of poorly designed products and systems the world is already > >plagued by. > > > >I'm not that worried about Interaction Design, or IxDA, being > >limited in definition or scope however. There are a number of > >generalists that have been around for a long time that will continue > >to point out the value of embracing a more encompassing view of > >Interaction Design as IxDA moves forward and grows. As for the > >specialists and those practicing within specific domains - perhaps > >they would benefit by forming specialist sub-groups *within the > >larger and inclusive organization*. But it will prove impossible and > >impractical to artificially limit the profession that's been being > >practiced for decades, nor the organization that's beginning to > >represent us all. > > > >Jim > > > >James Leftwich, IDSA > >CXO - Chief Experience Officer > >SeeqPod, Inc. > >Emeryville, California > >http://www.seeqpod.com > > > >Orbit Interaction > >Palo Alto, California > >http://www.orbitnet.com > > > > > >. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . > >Posted from the new ixda.org > >http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25077 > > > > > >________________________________________________________________ > >*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 > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > *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 > -- ~ will "No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it." Alan Cooper - "Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems" ------------------------------------------------------- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------- ________________________________________________________________ *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
