The interaction design process

Preface

During grad school I often wished that I was writing for unraveled and the UX community rather than for one of my professors. So much so that much of the work I submitted for my portfolio was pulled directly from this weblog. But I wasn’t able to write all of it for unraveled, and most of my papers have remained locked up on my iBook since I submitted them. I knew that at some point I would publish these papers here for everyone else to read and enjoy. I’ve decided that time is now. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be publishing all of the work I did for my HCI graduate course that’s fit to print. I welcome your feedback on these papers, but please keep in mind that they were written primary as an academic exercise, not as a designer writing for the community.

The first installment is also the first paper that I submitted: the interaction design process.

Introduction

Whether the operating system is Windows, Macintosh or Linux, a common problem is that users often aren’t able to locate saved documents on their computers efficiently. More to the point, file retrieval on most computers is hard. An experienced computer user might be surprised to read this. “File retrieval is hard? What’s so hard about using the open command, navigating to the file and clicking open?”

The problem with the open command is that it places all responsibility for finding a file on the user’s memory and folder structure. For a user to open a file efficiently, he needs to quickly recall the file’s name and position in the folder structure from his memory. Alternatively, the user could use a find or search command that can locate files based on their name and contents, but this command is usually not integrated with the open command and often doesn’t return useful results.

In this paper, I’ll outline the various steps that an HCI expert might take towards finding a solution to the file retrieval problem. Generally speaking, the interaction design process doesn’t change, whether it’s being used to create an automobile dashboard display or a single command within an operating system. Thus, the following interaction design process could in fact be used to create a dashboard display. The point is that although the problem might change, the general approach can remain the same.

Research

The first stage of the approach is the research stage, which will allow the designer (HCI expert) to gain a thorough understanding of the file retrieval problem and the users who are affected by it. The first step is this stage is user interviews, which allow the designer to ask users direct questions about how they use the open command on their computer. Some questions may include when they use the open command, their frustration with the open command and their knowledge of the file retrieval process. While interviews provide a great deal of information about how users think they behave, user observation will allow the designer to see how users behave firsthand. It’s often surprising to hear users explain their actions, and then to see them act completely different. One user may say that they never use the open command in a particular situation, but user observation may find that they not only use the open command in that situation, they use it often.

Literature review is what most people think of when they hear the word, “research.” Indeed, it’s an integral part of any research process. Two papers that may be useful on the subject of file retrieval are Finding and Reminding: File Organization from the Desktop by Deborah Barreau and Bonnie A. Nardi and Why Can’t I Find My Files? New Methods for Automating Attribute Assignment (PDF), by Craig A. N. Soules and Gregory R. Ganger. The first paper summarizes and synthesizes two independent studies of the ways users organize files on their computers. The second discusses approaches to automatically assign attributes — metadata that describes a file — to files.

A final step of the research process is brainstorming. By the end of the research process, the designer will likely have a lot of ideas brewing in her head. Before moving any further into the design process, it’s a good idea to record these ideas. Some ideas may seem strange or even impossible at first, but some of them may prove useful during the remainder of the process. Never say no to an idea until you thoughtfully rule it out.

Requirements

The first part of the requirements stage is to gather user expectations. This includes functions that users expect or desire from the new open command. To gain a better understanding of user expectations, it’s also helpful to know what influences the user’s expectations and desires such as environmental, social or cognitive factors.

The second part of the requirements stage is to gather technical requirements, including the data and functional needs of the system. In this case, the system is the computer operating system. For example, if the operating system’s file system can only be structured one way, it should be noted that the new open command would need to work within that specific file structure.

Design

The design stage defines the new open command, including its new interaction and flow. The first step is to define the interaction using all the knowledge gained through the research and requirements stages. The goal is to create a framework that the interaction takes place within. This can be as simple as making sketches on paper or detailed as numerous flow charts.

Next, the designer must define the interaction elements required to carry out the interaction designed in the previous step. Interaction elements include forms, inputs, buttons, scrollbars and menus that may be needed to create the new command.

Finally, using the interaction design definition as a blueprint, a prototype of the new open command can be built. It’s important that the prototype have all the general characteristics of a finished product, but it need not be perfect as the command will be refined after it’s completed and actual users are given the opportunity to use the new command.

User Testing

After the prototype is completed, the next step is a solid round of user testing, in which users of the final open command will be able to use the prototype. Many of the same techniques employed in the research stage can also be used in the user testing stage in order to gain further insight on the usability and overall experience of the new open command.

Refine

The final step in the design process is to refine the prototype. This involves finalizing the design of the command, after which it can be integrated into the operating system and delivered to users. Since the design process is iterative, further user testing and refinement may be necessary in order to achieve a usable version of the command.

All installments in this series:

27 Jun 05
interaction design, ms hci, process

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