Reading- Bill Verplank

interaction design sketchbook 

BY BILL VERPLANK

"Interaction design is design for people- design for human use."
This is a very simple way to describe interaction design. Although I think this is true, I also think that this is not specific to interaction design. I think that this is the base of most of industrial design. 
...As I type this is am continuously backspacing and deleting sentences that I just wrote. Originally I was going to write that this statement applies to every type of industrial design, not just interactive. Because industrial design is about designing products for people, to be used by people. But then I thought maybe not all products are for humans. Of course there's things like animal products. They're not designed to be used by humans. But on second thoughts they are. Animal transportation is designed to be easily handled and carried by humans. Even dog bowls which are not made to be used by humans, require human handling, filling up, carrying and washing. So perhaps even a dog bowl us designed for human use? There is also things like machinery parts. Although they are not made to be directly used by humans they form a bigger picture of a piece of equipment, system or industry that is used by humans. They also require maintenance or repairs in which they will come in direct contact with humans. And this is only achievable if these parts have been designed in a way that considers human use. So i think even if a product or "thing" is not made to have human's as the primary user, if it is not designed to apply to human usability, it cannot successfully form part of a larger system or function. 
... I have become quite off topic sorry! Back to the reading. 

Moving on, Verplank talks about the importance of sketching. As a way to be creative and express ideas and thoughts. Sketches are beneficial being realistic and accurate, as well as being abstract, quick and symbolic. At the moment i think this is an important thing to remember. As we are working on blogs for this project and no concept book, it is still useful to draw as a way to initially explore ideas as well as expand and growing concepts later down the track.  


"Seeing feeds drawing, drawing improves seeing"

Another interesting comment is the part about brainstorming. 
Fluency
Flexibility
These are the two main goals and achievements that come out of initial brainstorming. They come out quickly, not deeply thought about or considered, but this is what makes them flexible and full of opportunity. 

"If an idea is criticised before being expressed it dies prematurely."
Imagine how many opportunities and possibilities have been lost through the lack of exploration of initial ideas. I think a good mindset to go by in the initial brainstorming stage is, no idea is a bad idea. Potential can be found even in the silliest ideas, picking apart and expanding can result in a whole bunch of all new ideas. 

Further into the reading interaction design is described in a way that should be, "for physical and emotional needs and increasingly for their intellect." 
This is a good point, designing for people's intellect. With technology making everyday activities quicker and more convenient, design has started making people lazy. There is a good opportunity for design to challenge people and give them something to think about. Whilst keeping design intuitive, we should not be encouraging the lazy consumer. There should be both an input and output. Rather than being handed everything we want for doing nothing, user's should be challenged to achieve what they want in a way that enhances their user experience and satisfaction. 

The three questions interaction designers must answer; how do you feel, how do you know and how do you do?
Eg. Turing on a light switch
Feel- the light come one
Do- Using the switch
Know- Expectations and habit

FEEL- 

SENSES- hearing, tasting, touching, smelling, seeing
Feedback or output
Clarity or metaphor

KNOW-

MAPS, PATHS, JOURNEYS, STEPS

COMPLEXITY, SEQUENCES
Immediate performances by first timers
The expectation of instructions
Mental maps
Landmarks

DO-

MOVEMENT, CONTROL, SEQUENCE, SPACE, TIME

Settings
Choices or selections

Precision vs gesture

The reading suggests in the future computers will be inside of everything. All of these computers will talk to each other and share information. We need to think of the best ways in which humans will be able to interact with these computers. 

"Human-computer interaction can be understood as a competition between three paradigms; brains, tools, media."

Brains being computers
Tools being computers
Media being computers

Computers are also life, vehicles and fashion

It seems that everything today is based on or heading towards computers. It is an ever growing technology that is fast developing more and more capabilities. The writing comments that we are trying to  build computers to be just like us. They are becoming increasingly intelligent, and will only continue on this trend. Verplank says that although we are building these incredible machines that do so many amazing things, "we do not understand the world any better or how we might change it."