Interaction Design (IxD) is the design of interactive products and services in which a designer’s focus goes beyond the item in development to include the way users will interact with it. Thus, close scrutiny of users’ needs, limitations and contexts, etc. empowers designers to customize output to suit precise demands.
For UX designers, “Interaction Design” is the axis on which our work revolves (i.e., the design of human interaction with digital products); however, the term also applies to understanding how people interact with non-digital products.
“Interaction Design is the creation of a dialogue between a person and a product, system, or service. This dialogue is both physical and emotional in nature and is manifested in the interplay between form, function, and technology as experienced over time.”
- John Kolko, Author of Thoughts on Interaction Design (2011)
Designers’ work in IxD involves five dimensions: words (1D), visual representations (2D), physical objects/space (3D), time (4D), and behavior (5D).
Learn more about the 5 factors of interaction design and the kind of work IxD involves.
IxD’s five dimensions were first defined by a professor at London’s Royal College of Art, Gillian Crampton Smith, and a senior interaction designer, Kevin Silver. The dimensions represent the aspects an interaction designer considers when designing interactions:
Interaction designers utilize all five dimensions to consider the interactions between a user and a product or service in a holistic way. Specifically, we use them to help envision the real-world demands of a usership in relation to a design not yet introduced. For example, designers of an app that must process data at high speed in order to find results inside a mass-transit system (a subway/metro) will face accommodating the constraints of underground commuters – cramped spaces, fast journeys, dead zones, etc.
The term “interaction design” is sometimes used interchangeably with “user experience design”. That’s understandable, considering interaction design is an essential part of UX design. Indeed, UX design entails shaping the experience of using a product, and a big part of that experience involves the needed interaction between the user and the product. However, UX design goes far beyond that. UX designers’ working world is concerned with the entire user journey, including aspects of branding, design, usability and function. Conversely, the central role of “interaction designers” targets the moment of use and how to improve the interactive experience. Thus, interaction design, or IxD, is pivotal in the realm of the user experience, since the moment of use is the acid test of a design, where the designer’s manipulation of the five dimensions must offer users a satisfactory—if not better—experience. If users find themselves hindered by impractical features, such as text-heavy notifications or overlong animations, are put off by the aesthetics, or the responsiveness of the design fails to match their needs in the context, the design will fail, regardless of the brand behind it. The IxD of a product reflects its absolute value.
Read usability.gov’s questions to consider when designing for interaction here: https://www.usability.gov/what-and-why/interaction-design.html
UX Matters has a great article by Kevin Silver on the 5 dimensions of interaction design – here: https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2007/07/what-puts-the-design-in-interaction-design.php
You can learn much more about what interaction design is and how to design interactions in the Interaction Design Foundation’s online courses. Read more about the courses we offer – here: https://www.interaction-design.org/courses
Here’s the entire UX literature on Interaction Design by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:
