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Interaction Design

Interaction Design is concerned with shaping the interactive dialogue between a human user and a software-based product or service. This form of "man-machine" dialogue is often called a user interface. Interaction designers make user interfaces easy to learn and efficient to use – two goals that may sometimes conflict. The discipline of Interaction Design draws on many disciplines, including cognitive ergonomics, human factors engineering, human-computer interaction and usability engineering.

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To design a high-quality user interface, the designer must possess a good understanding of the target users and the actions they are likely to perform, and anticipate the mistakes they might make.

Typical assignments for an interaction designer are:

  • Design a software application's user interface from scratch
  • Create a library of user-interface patterns that are applied consistently across a range of products from the same company
  • Critically review an existing product to identify opportunities for improving its usability

SIGCHI, the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction was started in 1982. It brings together people working on the design, evaluation, implementation, and study of interactive computing systems for human use. It publishes the excellent "interactions" magazine. SIGCHI has an active Belgian chapter: SIGCHI.be, where Namahn plays a key role.

The Usability Professionals' Association (UPA) supports those who promote and advance the development of usable products, reaching out to people who act as advocates for usability and the user experience. Its members are drawn from a range of disciplines relating to user experience.

The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is a global network dedicated to the professional practice of Interaction Design. With the help of more than 10,000 members since 2004, the IxDA network provides an online forum for the discussion of interaction design issues and provides other opportunities and platforms for people who are passionate about Interaction Design to gather and advance the discipline.

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