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Chapter 6

The process of interaction design

6.1 Introduction
6.2 What is interaction design about?
6.2.1 Four basic activities of interaction design
6.2.2 Three key characteristics of the interaction design process
6.3 Some practical issues
6.3.1 Who are the users?
6.3.2 What do we mean by "needs"?
6.3.3 How do you generate alternative designs?
6.3.4 How do you choose among alternative designs?
6.4 Lifecycle models: showing how the activities are related
6.4.1 A simple lifecycle model for interaction design
6.4.2 Lifecycle models in software engineering
6.4.3 Lifecycle models in HCI

6.1. Introduction
Design is a practical and creative activity, the ultimate intent of which is to develop
a product that helps its users achieve their goals. In previous chapters, we looked
at different kinds of interactive products, issues you need to take into account
when doing interaction design and some of the theoretical basis for the field. This
chapter is the first of four that will explore how we can design and build interactive
products.
Chapter 1 defined interaction design as being concerned with "designing inter-
active products to support people in their everyday and working lives." But how do
you go about doing this?
Developing a product must begin with gaining some understanding of what is
required of it, but where do these requirements come from? Whom do you ask
about them? Underlying good interaction design is the philosophy of user-centered
design, i.e., involving users throughout development, but who are the users? Will
they know what they want or need even if we can find them to ask? For an innova-
tive product, users are unlikely to be able to envision what is possible, so where do
these ideas come from?
In this chapter, we raise and answer these kinds of questions and discuss the
four basic activities and key characteristics of the interaction design process that