where is Interaction Design going?

Yeah I totally agree.

The Unreal Engine might just be the ultimate UI designers plaything.

They’re running a contest right now with nVidia to “create something Unreal” to the tune of a million bucks. I haven’t seen any other UI competitions with that kinda cash or publicity!

you know there’s an UnrealEd to X3D convertor. includes sound and the rest. cheap way to play with VR. still waiting for Firefox plugins myself. not interested in draggin IE back out.

If you dig those, check out the Ambient Atmos

hi everyone,
i really dont want to sound ignorant.but
what is HCI or HF professionals ?? what is experience design??
can someone just give me a simple clue?
i have never heard of this terms before…
and from my little little experience as a student
i had my senior art exhibition back in April
and it was when i knew nth about interaction design…
i just made a piece [ intestine like sofa in red laying in the lobby] that
audience can play with or particapate.
I think that people are getting sick of “being told to do sth” and i think as a designer/artist , it’s really intersting to create something and encourage other’s creativity…like after my show, everyone came to me like “yeh maybe i would do apply the idea to my new project and make it look intersting…”
well i hope i didnt type too mcuh non sense words… :blush:

In the day of Google, there’s no reason to “sound ignorant”. In the time it took you to type that message, you can search for info on Experience design, HCI, and HF. Check those links out, and then check back here.

Orbital,
Some links that you might be interested in.
http://www.aiborg.net/
http://www.alexsoza.com/
http://www.a-matter.com/eng/projects/Bloomberg-pr072-01-r.asp

http://www.interaction-ivrea.it/en/gallery/notsowhitewalls/index.asp
http://www.loop.ph/new/wallpaper.html

Sweetness…thanks for the links… i’ve bookmarked most of them…
send more if you have any.
thanks

this is the best site for finding projects that exploit technology into design:

www.we-make-money-not-art.com

on my top five daily feeds :smiley:

Ebuhloone, thanks for your links…
Within those, I’ve actually discovered a very intersting book on interactive kinetic architecture at www.aiborg.net/leisuratorbook . As I read it, i will post few reflections…

just wanted to pitch and compliment this great thread as it is close to my heart. I guess interaction design has become a description for a variety of job titles all defined by their different contexts, which is confusing.

For instance this description, taken from a web design agency of reknown ( actually started in 1977) refers to the trad. information design role which comes from software dev. rather than bastardization of it to mean "design training with strong typographical, motion graphic and interaction design skills. "

Interaction Designer

Duties and Responsibilities
Interaction designers must understand and refine client strategy and develop content and functionality that meets both client objectives and user goals. They must collaborate with visual designers and programmers to develop information architecture and user interfaces, and create proposals, functional specification, flowcharts, and schematics. Interaction designers act as the “user’s advocate” and are responsible for conceptual development.

Requirements
Qualified people have 2-3 years experience developing interactive products, a thorough understanding of user-centered design principles, client presentation skills, writing skills, and experience organizing complex information. Familiarity with principles of Web development as well as Illustrator and Visio is essential.

Anyway aside from this i had experience in interaction design while working as a cook at a strange restaurant in Amsterdam:Supperclub where food/fashion, design/theatre-spectacle/music / formal plan or more often spontaneous was the order of the day. Very different to Ivrea, Medialab europe, experience in terms of process and outcome.

“interaction design” education like Ivrea with some inspiration training and the odd visit from some CEO from an important company. Big PR, some cool research, rarely a cool product, although maybe that happens post- training. My experience is that they are great at the “blue sky” part of the equation, while worse on “landing” something that can enter the market.







j

there has been some really interesting projects here to check out. it’s amazing where the interaction design field is leading itself. the only thing i’d like to be able to find, but can’t seem to is this idea i have had on how the concept of water can act as a digital metaphor for flowing information in a space such as a library or other information based discipline…

i have heard there was a very interesting installation at the mit media lab done by a fellow of chistopher small…can’t seem to locate anything on that, does any know of projects that experiment with the idea of interaction and flowing water for information purposes??

I believe what you are looking for is DAVID SMALL, at small design… he did a water fountain projectionpiece over at the museum over here…he has some damn sweet projects over at http://www.davidsmall.com/

check it out…i’m not that big on the fountain project after i went to visit it, but he has some other great projects and is reallly smart after talking to him at the mediaLab.

orbital!



Ray Kurzweil is an interesting fellow who has a website for various things related to the frontiers of science. However lots of it has to do with where culture, computing and the future of computer-mediated human experiences and interactions meet.

http://www.kurzweilai.net

Is there a problem to be solved?
If not, does it qualify as Interactive art?

In my opinion ID is a bit new to really be filtering out into a lot of practical use, a lot of the core technologies still need some work I think before they’re ready for world-spanning prime time.

BUT, when we get there, I think Interactive Design will probably touch everything else that gets designed, as they figure out more and more ways to integrate it and solve problems with the technology.


One aspect I’m currently interested in (because I just did a paper on it…) is the concept of a fully interactive office space, with common tasks integrated into the environment. right now, a lot of tasks that are central to the room are seperate from it, a phone, a lamp, a computer and a monitor all existing as seperate objects, even though they’re integral to the purpose of the environment. If you put those functions into the room itself, along with a few other neat ergonomic tricks (ambient adjusting lighting, ect.) I think you’d end up a lot more functional, as well as ‘purpose oriented’

the idea of a space that ‘shifts’ by purpose, on its own, without the need to drag around chairs and adjust other features is kinda cool too.

I’m really interested in the idea of places being defined by purpose, not by space or artificial deliniations myself.

if you want to see new technologies you should check out
www.sprocket.com.au

Some cool large format interactive display solutions. this is the future.

the future is a flat device you touch?

I think you’ll find that most jobs these days that get into the interactive-experience range of things really aren’t looking for “designers” as most people in the ID field normally think of them.

I mean a great example is that of the web designer. When I started school for design you could be a web designer just by knowing HTML tables, photoshop, and a handfull of Javascript. But within five years that whole notion was completely blown out of the water to the point that most graphic designers or industrial designers could not even qualify for the basic requirements of the job posting.

Just look at any of the job postings for entry level gigs at Yahoo or other well known tech companies. They might say that they are looking for an “interactive designer” but look through the requirements and it becomes clear that they are really looking for a technically proficient programmer with a sense of style. A recent web design job required: XHTML, XML, AJAX, Ruby, CSS2, RSS, Javascript, Java, PHP,.ASP, and MySQL.

For higher paying levels they wanted experience in C++, C# (C-sharp from Micro$oft), and other .Net experience which essentially means that they are looking for someone who graduated from a Computer Science or Electrical Engineering program and not someone who went to art school for a bachelors degree.

If you are really looking to get involved in the “tech” end of things and work in interaction then you really need to look at moving away from ID and more to CS. But ideally you do want a balance of the two so an undergrad in CS and a masters in ID would probably be a good way to go.

Agreed, the majority of my Interaction Design applicants are actually Interface/Interactive Developers who don’t recognize the difference. The dot-com boom flooded the market with “Web Designers” just like the Mac flooded the market with “Desktop Publishers.”

interaction design has to do with the actual involvment between the designer and the consumers. It’s the bussiness side of design in a way.
How we as designers work with and for the consumers to improve the design of products.