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1.5 The goals of interaction design 13

in questionnaires, and even asking them to become co-designers. The findings from
the different ways of engaging and eliciting knowledge from users are then inter-
preted with respect to ongoing design activities (we give more detail about all these
aspects of evaluation in Chapters 10-14).
Equally important as involving users in evaluating an interactive product is un-
derstanding what people currently do. This form of research should take place be-
fore building any interactive product. Chapters 3,4, and 5 cover a lot of this ground
by explaining in detail how people act and interact with one another, with informa-
tion, and with various technologies, together with describing their strengths and
weaknesses. Such knowledge can greatly help designers determine which solutions
to choose from the many design alternatives available and how to develop and test
these further. Chapter 7 describes how an understanding of users' needs can be
translated to requirements, while Chapter 9 explains how to involve users effec-
tively in the design process.
A main reason for having a better understanding of users is that different
users have different needs and interactive products need to be designed accord-
ingly. For example, children have different expectations about how they want
to learn or play from adults. They may find having interactive quizzes and cartoon
characters helping them along to be highly motivating, whereas most adults find
them annoying. Conversely, adults often like talking-heads discussions about top-
ics, but children find them boring. Just as everyday objects like clothes, food, and
games are designed differently for children, teenagers, and adults, so, too, must in-
teractive products be designed to match the needs of different kinds of users.
In addition to the four basic activities of design, there are three key character-
istics of the interaction design process:
1. Users should be involved through the development of the project.
2. Specific usability and user experience goals should be identified, clearly doc-
umented, and agreed upon at the beginning of the project.
3. Iteration through the four activities is inevitable.
We have already mentioned the importance of involving users and will return to
this topic throughout the book. Iterative design will also be addressed later when
we talk about the various design and evaluation methods by which this can be
achieved. In the next section we describe usability and user experience goals.

1.5 The goals of interaction design

Part of the process of understanding users' needs, with respect to designing an in-
teractive system to support them, is to be clear about your primary objective. Is it
to design a very efficient system that will allow users to be highly productive in
their work, or is it to design a system that will be challenging and motivating so that
it supports effective learning, or is it something else? We call these top-level con-
cerns usability goals and user experience goals. The two differ in terms of how they
are operationalized, i.e., how they can be met and through what means. Usability