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Interdisciplinary Interaction Design: A Visual Guide to Basic Theories, Models and Ideas for Thinking and Designing for Interactive Web Design and Digital Device Experiences
Interaction design has many dimensions to it. It addresses how people deal with words, read images, explore physical space, think about time and motion, and how actions and responses affect human behavior. Various disciplines make up interaction design, such as industrial design, cognitive psychology, user interface design and many others. It is my hope that this book is a starting point for creating a visual language to enhance the understanding of interdisciplinary theories within interaction design. The book uses concise descriptions, visual metaphors and comparative diagrams to explain each term’s meaning. Many ideas in this book are based on timeless principles that will function in varying contexts. The book will give
108 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 26, 2020
A basic guide to interaction design theories and models. I liked the theoric side of it, especially the psychology based concepts. However the book is still very basic and didn't add much to my existing knowledge. Still a good one for beginners though.
December 31, 2018
The author had three goals for this book (7):
(1) To add to the foundation of interdisciplinary interaction design principles and theories
(2) To create a visual language
(3) To encourage further exploration
Those goals were met. This book is a great primer for interaction design practices, theories, processes, and artifacts across disciplines. There is some helpful, interesting information here.
(Were some important terms ignored? I have no idea, but I appreciated what was included.)
The Good
-- The “guide to understanding the book” tells readers how to use the book and explains the design. For example, instead of only identifying where the reader can locate the term’s description, Pannofino explains that the descriptions were “written in conversational tone for easy accessibility.” The book becomes its own example of good design (8).
-- Many definitions include best practices.
-- Some definitions warn of potential mistakes (e.g. Site Map, 75).
The Bad (not bad, just possible ways to improve the next edition)
-- Add indices, including one by discipline.
-- Add a glossary. Even though that sounds weird in a book of definitions, it would have helped to have a glossary of the terms used in the definitions. If the term is unfamiliar, then some of the related concepts may be too. For example, “negative space,” “visual rest,” and “reading gravity” in Activating Compositional Space (10).
-- Digital Skeuomorphs is an example of a term defined by what it does rather than what it is, although the visual examples end up assisting with that.
-- Sometimes I wanted a more explicit statement about the importance of the term, or if not importance, then what I’m supposed to do with it. Analog and Digital Devices (12), Cartesian Coordinates System (18), and Sequence and Motion (70) are examples.
-- I thought Personas (62) could have been better, and Principle of Least Effort (64) could have had a better example. Is chunking only visual or is it contextual (19)? The explanation of Content Inventory (22) is confusing; how does one conduct a tool?
-- The authors states that interaction design is the design of digital devices and interfaces (6), but includes Poka-Yoke (63) and says there isn’t a clear cut example of it in the digital landscape. While that could seem contradictory, I was happy to see this term included, and I wonder if the discussion of User Error (80) could be applied here. It may have helped illustrate the importance of this term.
The Ugly
I’m not one of those people who points out mistakes and typos. We all make them. (I likely did in this review.) I am going to comment on the errors in this book. I found them distracting.
-- Display Factors (31) labels an example incorrectly by mixing up left and right. (Am I correct? I read it four times to make sure it wasn’t me.)
-- “Psychologist George Miller is theory refers to” (21).
-- Eyetracking (34) needs a pronoun in the first sentence. You cannot follow a user’s eye path if you’re reading. The user is reading.
-- Several examples of incorrect or odd prepositions: envision into, advantage to, etc.
-- Footnote punctuation is inconsistent.
(1) To add to the foundation of interdisciplinary interaction design principles and theories
(2) To create a visual language
(3) To encourage further exploration
Those goals were met. This book is a great primer for interaction design practices, theories, processes, and artifacts across disciplines. There is some helpful, interesting information here.
(Were some important terms ignored? I have no idea, but I appreciated what was included.)
The Good
-- The “guide to understanding the book” tells readers how to use the book and explains the design. For example, instead of only identifying where the reader can locate the term’s description, Pannofino explains that the descriptions were “written in conversational tone for easy accessibility.” The book becomes its own example of good design (8).
-- Many definitions include best practices.
-- Some definitions warn of potential mistakes (e.g. Site Map, 75).
The Bad (not bad, just possible ways to improve the next edition)
-- Add indices, including one by discipline.
-- Add a glossary. Even though that sounds weird in a book of definitions, it would have helped to have a glossary of the terms used in the definitions. If the term is unfamiliar, then some of the related concepts may be too. For example, “negative space,” “visual rest,” and “reading gravity” in Activating Compositional Space (10).
-- Digital Skeuomorphs is an example of a term defined by what it does rather than what it is, although the visual examples end up assisting with that.
-- Sometimes I wanted a more explicit statement about the importance of the term, or if not importance, then what I’m supposed to do with it. Analog and Digital Devices (12), Cartesian Coordinates System (18), and Sequence and Motion (70) are examples.
-- I thought Personas (62) could have been better, and Principle of Least Effort (64) could have had a better example. Is chunking only visual or is it contextual (19)? The explanation of Content Inventory (22) is confusing; how does one conduct a tool?
-- The authors states that interaction design is the design of digital devices and interfaces (6), but includes Poka-Yoke (63) and says there isn’t a clear cut example of it in the digital landscape. While that could seem contradictory, I was happy to see this term included, and I wonder if the discussion of User Error (80) could be applied here. It may have helped illustrate the importance of this term.
The Ugly
I’m not one of those people who points out mistakes and typos. We all make them. (I likely did in this review.) I am going to comment on the errors in this book. I found them distracting.
-- Display Factors (31) labels an example incorrectly by mixing up left and right. (Am I correct? I read it four times to make sure it wasn’t me.)
-- “Psychologist George Miller is theory refers to” (21).
-- Eyetracking (34) needs a pronoun in the first sentence. You cannot follow a user’s eye path if you’re reading. The user is reading.
-- Several examples of incorrect or odd prepositions: envision into, advantage to, etc.
-- Footnote punctuation is inconsistent.
May 20, 2014
Basically, it's a reference guide to interaction design principles, much like the book Universal Principles of Design, which is also very good. Though between the two, I think Universal Principles of Design is, well, a better designed book.
January 23, 2015
This book is a great overview and guide for learning about the major theories and models of Interaction Design. But for more detailed explanations and examples of each theory/model you will definitely need to review other references, which many of them are listed at the end of this book!
November 2, 2013
As it says on the cover, a basic guide to interaction design theories and models. Very basic.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews