Andy,
Great initiative.
In case you would find it useful to have an annotated list of books
in interaction design and related topics to choose from, may I suggest
http://webzone.k3.mah.se/k3jolo/idBookshelf
I find it nearly impossible to pick two "top interaction design must-
have books" -- it depends on who must have them, of course.
But the three that I currently use for an introductory-level
interaction design class at Malmö University are
--------
Saffer, D. (2007). Designing for interaction: Creating smart
applications and clever devices. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
A useful first introduction to interaction design, covering a lot of
ground in a very light and readable way. Saffer characterizes the
field, discusses the digital design materials and tools, outlines the
phases of the design process, and even touches on more advanced
topics such as adaptivity, service design, ethics and future
challenges -- all very brief and approachable. I imagine that the
book might whet the appetite of many readers to know more about
interaction design. Too bad that there are no references or
suggestions for further study.
Buxton, B. (2007). Sketching user experiences: Getting the design
right and the right design. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann.
Buxton develops a clearly articulated design perspective on the
creation of digital products, based firmly in the seminal activity of
sketching. The core part of the book is an inventory of sketching
techniques, presented through well-chosen examples and illustrating a
breadth of approaches to the key question of how to sketch temporal
behavior and interactivity. Buxton lays out two parallel threads to
frame the sketching examples -- a discussion of professional product
development, and a scholarly perspective on the history and
significance of sketching in design -- which makes the book a highly
valuable resource for professional interaction designers as well as
teachers and students.
Moggridge, B. (2007). Designing interactions. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press.
A truly remarkable book, painting a rich picture of interaction
design practice by means of some forty journalistically rendered
interviews with outstanding designers and a substantial piece of
reflection on the author's own experience as an interaction designer.
There are several strengths to the book: It adopts and illustrates a
consistent design perspective (as opposed to, e.g., a HCI
perspective); it gives roughly equal weight to hardware and software
design; it covers the history of interaction design for personal
computing as well as related fields including games, multimedia and
service design; it is well designed and produced in itself, with a
beautiful flow between sections and with generous and appropriate
image material. The appended DVD provides interview segments and,
more importantly, some demos to illustrate key topics. The only
drawback I can find is a slight bias towards Silicon Valley people
and practices, which is certainly historically justifiable but still
constrains the overall picture somewhat. Nevertheless, I would
consider this book to be required reading for all students, teachers
and practitioners who need a comprehensive and up-to-date view of
interaction design practice.
--------
For my own work in participatory crossmedia, the most inspirational
books lately have been:
--------
Bolter, J., Gromala, D. (2003). Windows and mirrors: Interaction
design, digital art and the myth of transparency. Cambridge, Mass.:
The MIT Press.
As one of rather few examples in the literature, this book addresses
the aesthetic qualities of interaction design. It consists of a set
of essays composed around selected exhibits from the SIGGRAPH Art
Gallery in the year 2000. The main thesis is that interaction is
culturally reflective as much as efficiently transparent, and the
book offers several important insights for interaction designers.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence culture: Where old and new media
collide. New York: New York University Press.
Jenkins addresses the convergence of mass media and interactive media
from a solid background in studies of fan cultures. He builds his
arguments around three core concepts -- media convergence,
participatory culture, and collective intelligence -- which he
develops in a series of well-written and engaging case studies,
ranging from online communities of Survivor spoilers to Harry Potter
fan-fiction IPR controversies and the US elections. The focus is
largely on how the established mass media "collide" with new media
cultures and practices, and the new media forms originating in the
digital realm are generally less well covered. Nevertheless, I
consider the insights offered in the book to be required reading for
any interaction designer involved in transmedia/crossmedia projects.
Lasica, J. D. (2005). Darknet: Hollywood's war against the digital
generation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.
The digital media convergence and the rapid dissemination of media
production capabilities is a challenge to many existing structures in
the media industries. Lasica looks specifically at how established
entertainment industries in music and movies react to the "threats"
of filesharing, local production, mods, remixes and other personal
digital media possibilities. The emerging picture, which Lasica
paints in very lively colors using a journalistic presentation style,
is focused on restrictions, violations of user rights, and political
power plays in the interest of continued economic gain. The
perspective of the book is clearly biased in favor of personal media,
underground movements and a certain amount of Internet evangelism --
but the underlying conflicts are extremely interesting for any
interaction designer involved in the digital media.
Lovink, G. (2002). Dark fiber: Tracking critical Internet culture.
Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
A collection of essays on digital media, covering a broad scope of
issues such as net culture, language use, dotcom rise and fall, co-
presence and community. The main theme of the texts, and the direct
topic for several of them, is media activism and what Lovink calls
tactical media: Using the digital media for politically and
ideologically radical means.
--------
And for my academic work in interaction design theory, I would have
to mention:
--------
Krippendorff, K. (2006). The semantic turn: A new foundation for
design. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Krippendorff argues for a human-centered view on design, where the
core notion is meaning as created in use. He outlines a historical
progression in the traditional design disciplines from product
styling towards more complex, relational concerns, including the
possibility of a design science. From an interaction design point-of-
view, what is really interesting about the book is that it provides a
conceptual bridge between the traditional design disciplines and the
use-oriented perspectives that are at the heart of interaction design.
Sennett, R. (2008). The craftsman. London: Allen Lane.
Sennett, a renowned sociologist, writes about craft based on a broad
historical base, ranging from ancient Greece to Linux open source
communities. For a design researcher, the book corroborates all that
is said in general design theory, such as the work by Schön, as well
as interaction-design specific accounts such as the one by
McCullough. Moreover, it extends and elaborates upon this knowledge
in several fruitful directions, including the social dynamics of the
workshop and the asymmetric relation between master and apprentice;
the detailed nature of head-and-hand work in complex craft skills
(including the importance of rhythm and concentration); the nature of
learning crafts and the roles of instructions and tools in learning.
Further relevant themes include the concepts of resistance and
ambiguity, the ethics of craftmanship, and the relation between play
and craft. In sum, it is a remarkable book that adds significantly to
the body of knowledge in interaction-design research and education.
--------
Best of luck with your DRB project -- looking forward to seeing how
it develops!
Jonas Löwgren
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