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Preface

Welcome to Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, and our in-
teractive website at ID-Book.com
This textbook is for undergraduate and masters students from a range of back-
grounds studying classes in human-computer interaction, interaction design, web
design, etc. A broad range of professionals and technology users will also find this
book useful, and so will graduate students who are moving into this area from re-
lated disciplines.
Our book is called Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction
because it is concerned with a broader scope of issues, topics, and paradigms than
has traditionally been the scope of human-computer interaction (HCI). This reflects
the exciting times we are living in, when there has never been a greater need for in-
teraction designers and usability engineers to develop current and next-generation
interactive technologies. To be successful they will need a mixed set of skills from
psychology, human-computer interaction, web design, computer science, informa-
tion systems, marketing, entertainment, and business.
What exactly do we mean by interaction design? In essence, we define interac-
tion design as:
"designing interactive products to support people in their everyday and working lives".
This entails creating user experiences that enhance and extend the way people
work, communicate, and interact. Now that it is widely accepted that HCI has
moved beyond designing computer systems for one user sitting in front of one ma-
chine to embrace new paradigms, we, likewise, have covered a wider range of is-
sues. These include ubiquitous computing and pervasive computing that make use
of wireless and collaborative technologies. We also have tried to make the book
up-to-date with many examples from contemporary research.
The book has 15 chapters and includes discussion of how cognitive, social, and
affective issues apply to interaction design. A central theme is that design and eval-
uation are interleaving, highly iterative processes, with some roots in theory but
which rely strongly on good practice to create usable products. The book has a
'hands-on' orientation and explains how to carry out a variety of techniques. It also
has a strong pedagogical design and includes many activities (with detailed com-
ments), assignments, and the special pedagogic features discussed below.
The style of writing is intended to be accessible to students, as well as profes-
sionals and general readers, so it is conversational and includes anecdotes, car-
toons, and case studies. Many of the examples are intended to relate to readers'
own experiences. The book and the associated website encourage readers to be ac-
tive when reading and to think about seminal issues. For example, one feature we
have included in the book is the "dilemma," where a controversial topic is aired.
The aim is for readers to understand that much of interaction design needs consid-