Interaction design is a thought process

Recently received a number of letters from children's shoes, frequently asked questions focused on: how to become an interactive designer? What software should I learn?

Sometimes I do not know how to start answering, I think in the heart of interactive designer is a job requiring a lot of comprehensive ability, can not "take the precedence." Although the tool is very important, many large enterprise design departments are now developing design standards, normative software tools to grasp more and more attention. However, I think that designers should be less "polite", think more about "why" and "how to do it", that is, from "surgery" to "Taoism." So to speak it seems too mysterious.

During this time I've been thinking a question - design, especially interactive design can be attributed to thinking process.

Way of thinking one: from the "plane" to "stage" design An interactive design predecessors have said http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/13033.html "> The limitations of design thinking sometimes lies too rigidly in front If you transform a two-dimensional square interface in front of you, turn it over and see it as a stage. All the elements you need are your actors, when to transition, and when that character appears , How to appear ... ... a lot of things will suddenly see.

In fact, this way of thinking, the two-dimensional interactive interface usually face better meet the user contact with the three-dimensional, four-dimensional space, to simulate the reality, increase user perception and understanding of the operation.

Perhaps just said, may not be able to hold. For example, in actual work, we may discuss with the team whether this page should have a function, where? And how this functional element appears. We may argue endlessly, no one has any particular reason to serve the public. In fact, this time you can use this method of thinking, the functional elements as an actor, if you are a director, then the actor should be:

When Does It Appear: When Do Users Need It? The actor at the right time to come to the right place, where does it appear will not affect the style of the protagonist, but also enough eye-catching yet: Does its appearance affect my main function? Does it appear that the user can perceive it? It's appearance is gradually revealed or suddenly it: the transition, jump, floating or pop-up right? Way of thinking two: interactive design is about "time" The above way of thinking also help us think about "when it occurs", which is interactive design is very important "timeline" design. Design is time, and maybe many designers, including myself, often ignore this. The user is the object of activity from the beginning until the end of the passage of time, and over time, both the interaction media and the interaction scene are transformed. Even if the same element, the display of different time status should be different. For a simple example on this point you will immediately understand.

app store For the installation of the software, you will find that when you first install it, the status shows "Free," which shows the user what a character app is. When it is installed but there is a new update, "Update" is displayed, indicating that the current app has an update and you can click Update. After the user has installed the latest version, the grayed-out "Installed" is displayed, telling the user that you have installed it, and no further action is required. Put gray is a good way to prevent user misuse, the "fault-tolerant design," there is not much to describe here.

Way of thinking three: "surgery" process

The term "technique" mentioned here includes not only the rapid prototyping method at the beginning of interactive design (the fast performance on paper is not bad), but more familiarity with common interaction patterns.

If you agree: Design is used to solve the problem. Interaction design often provides solutions to problems. Well, familiar with the existing ui model is very useful for you to solve common problems.

For example, the parallel panel mode (accordion mode) can be collapsed (only one at a time) or expanded (all simultaneously). This model is suitable for organizing a large number of similar or interactive information, allowing users to more efficient access to information on the same page. The best application in: Need to apply for the need to fill in a variety of non-sequential categories directory.

More about design patterns can refer to the "common UI design patterns." In addition to these usually need to see more different product interface, the more contact with the more the ability to get out of hand.

Way of thinking four: innovation

I remember when I was a graduate student, a mentor who was doing installation art said: "The so-called design innovation is to make the things that should be small and enlarge the things that should be small." Now, wanting to come, in fact, can be spread to some conventional The combination broke up, put some elements back together. Getting rid of the convention is an innovation.

For example, a button seen earlier, the loading status and cancel the combination, which is different from our common bar-shaped progress bar, cancel the button on the right mode. This reorganization of different elements together is an innovation ah.

These are some of my understanding before, can not say absolutely right, some even a collection of several different thinking processes.

Thanks to Biao Shu for his interactive design thinking.

Source: http: //www.zhangyq.com/interaction-design-thinking/