What Does an Interactive Designer Do?

InteractionDesign (InteractionDesign) refers to the designer who participates in the process of analyzing, predicting, defining, planning, describing and exploring the interaction mechanism between the product and its users, that is, the workers who define the behavior of the artifact .

Interaction Designer

As a new discipline focusing on interactive experiences,

The interaction designer is good at expressing, expressing the information that the product wants to tell the user in the language of the webpage, and displaying the user's operation functions.

Therefore, any problems involving expression and communication can be done by an interaction designer, and should also be done by an interaction designer.

The product manager considers what the product is worth, and the interaction designer considers how to translate this idea into a series of interfaces and present it to the user. In addition to presentation, there is also interaction with the user. This process of presentation and interaction requires a certain level of expression. This expression ability is not the verbal expression we usually refer to, but the expression in web language. We often talk about the position of a button, the style of the cursor in a certain state, the discussion should be written as "login" instead of "login" and so on: these are web language expressions.

Sometimes, some interaction designers ask, "Do you want me to write the text on the webpage? Product managers know better than I know, do they write?" If an interaction designer should be "expressive" Characteristics, then the text on the webpage should be written by the interaction designer. Although product managers know more about products, interaction designers are the ones who know best how to communicate to users. We will discuss the question of titles like "you" or "me", and we will also take care not to use words like "user" on the page: these are all questions about words.

The content includes:

Depending on the time and project, the daily work of an interaction designer includes: customer interviews, field research, brainstorming, writing documents, making prototypes, and product testing. The specific work depends on the progress of the project. Except for the days when you write your document (such as framework building), each day will be different. Yes, there are still a lot of Eemps: write emails, receive emails (

It's not easy to get into the user experience. The first thing you face is an identity crisis. Many times it is not clear what exactly we do. CHI, HCI, UI, UE, UX, IA, ID, IxD, IxSD, ... a lot of so-called professional terms, often the more interpreted the more confused.

This ambiguous interpretation of careers precisely shows that user experience is a highly comprehensive and interdisciplinary discipline: to design, but not just to design graphic images, and to have knowledge of cognitive science in order to conceive appropriate interfaces and usage; be able to Deeply think about the overall market strategy and product positioning, and reflect it in the design to meet market needs, and also have practical considerations in implementation. Don't let the development team learn Tom Cruise's role in Impossible; be good with customers / User communication, to

Although companies such as Cooper or Google will complete a series of tests during the job search process, all companies require portfolios. To be precise, you need to prepare two types of works: one online and one written.

The online portfolio should provide a summary of the work and may contain some sample files. The written portfolio (carried in the interview) is a more profound display of the work, so that you can discuss the project problems and the process of resolution. Don't just introduce the results, the work process is also important.

What if there is no work? looking around. The world is full of unresolved problems, designing a solution.

Why be an Interaction Designer?

Because then you can change the world. Yes, we seem to be just tinkering with buttons, drop-down menus, meters, etc., but the real work is to change the world, bit by bit ... to make it more human. We help people with everyday tasks, whether it's gaming, lifesaving or money transfer. We inject our value into this world and make things useful, easy to use, enjoyable and healthy. Such a job is really good.

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Dan Saffer is a senior interaction designer for Adaptive Path. Excellent performance in e-commerce, application software, hardware and other fields. He has worked with many companies such as Lucent Technologies, Warner Bro, MAYA Viz.

In the five years since Reimann wrote "If You Want to Become an Interaction Designer," there have been many changes in the field of interaction design. The dotcom bubble has led many designers to leave the field. But the recent resurgence of the Internet has brought in new practitioners. To promote the accumulation of knowledge in the industry, a new group of interaction designers was formed: the Association for Interaction Design (Reimann is the first chairman). In addition, following "traditional" businesses such as software and the Internet, interaction design has begun to enter some new areas, including mobile phones, medical equipment, finance, entertainment and retail services.

And the traditional field is also changing: the Internet has become a platform for application software design, and even those softwares that do not require online programming and running have also become a hybrid of "online work" and "offline work". Even operating systems are gradually getting rid of the shackles of desktop metaphors that were built 25 years ago. Everything looks so natural, it's like finding something out of the boxmaking interaction designers an ideal career today.

Thinking about interaction design positions

Many interaction designers (including user researchers) may have thought about the question: Is there any value in their existence? Does this profession have a future? In the end, many interaction designers switch to product managers or take up other positions because they can't see the future or feel a sense of accomplishment.

It s true that the prototype can be done by the product manager, and it wo nt be able to copy the competing products. If not, you can give it to the visual designer to play. Under this double grip, interaction designers are really awkward. The most frustrating thing is that interaction designers often don't have the right to speak, and often need to compromise with product managers or leaders, even if they don't agree.

I once saw a Weibo (now deleted), the general idea is: "Our company recruits only product managers and artists, and does not need interaction designers. We should not just think about positions without output." What seems to chill the interaction designer actually reflects the aspirations of many managers: interaction designers are not very meaningful, we don't want to have such a useless link, without him, it is not a big deal, and vision is enough.

I think it's a good thing to hear this kind of voice, it can make us reflect more clearly. The existence of a post must have its reason. What is the significance of the role of interaction designer? To what extent? Is it really like thinking and producing nothing like this man said? Let me briefly analyze it.

Is there a guardian of the obstructor OR user experience? Balance of interaction designer and product manager

If you have read The Elements of User Experience, you know that at the strategic level (the elements of user experience), the product needs to consider both the website goals and user needs. Under actual circumstances, product people are often burdened with heavy KPIs, and they inevitably consider more website goals; interaction designers are more inclined to consider issues from the perspective of user experience. The two need to balance each other and check each other, otherwise it is easy to get out of control. Imagine if there is no user experience staff or corresponding team, in order to achieve their goals, the product will likely add features and content desperately. If everyone does nt pay attention to experience and transition to consume the product, the future of the product can be imagined (but this situation basically happens only in large companies, the product is like a child, and the product manager is equivalent to a child Parents. But if there are too many parents, the child will not be close).

Some people may say: Not all products carry KPIs, and not all product personnel do not value user experience. Many product people draw their own prototypes and they also draw well. What I want to say is that the surgery industry has a specialization, and product personnel need to focus on the macro direction and positioning of the product, not the interaction details. How much can a product manager who is passionate about interaction details and page layout spend all day on defining the general direction? (Unless there are more product staff on this team, some people are actually doing interactive work full-time)

Another point is that designers generally do not bear KPIs, so it is easy to maintain a more rational thinking, which is what is called "bystanders clear." So we are always ready to prepare a basin of cold water when the product manager's mind is hot (people are inevitable when facing huge pressure, and designers are actually the same).

Enslaved prototype worker OR designer who offers the best solution? -Cooperation between interaction designer and product manager

Identify the effectiveness of the requirements

Whenever a product throws in a demand, the mediocre designer wants to complete it; the ordinary designer wants to do it well; the good designer wants to do his best to do it best; and Excellent designers give priority: Is this demand justified? Is it worth it? How does it help the product? Does the user need it and so on. If the end result is that it is not worth doing, then it should be rejected or a better solution proposed. Of course, many times, it is difficult to judge whether a particular demand is reasonable. In this case, we can do user research, analyze usage scenarios, ask friends around us, discuss with product managers, and so on, but we cannot give up thinking.

For example, when a colleague did a lottery client design before, the product manager requested to add complex analysis chart functions (because it is often mentioned in user feedback). At this time, what we need is not meditation, looking for various solutions to better display complex charts on the small screen; but by analyzing the user's use scenarios, we finally conclude that this feature is not applicable on mobile clients (I couldn't find any reasonable scenario for using this feature), and finally convinced the product manager to cancel the feature.

2. Reshaping demand

Unfortunately, many times when a designer receives a requirement, the requirements document is already in shape. At this time, the designer was already in a relatively passive position, and then he would involuntarily design according to the requirements documents until he finally found that he could not get through. And this key node is precisely where designers can make the most of their value.

What we need more is the ability to turn apples into oranges; instead of giving you an apple, you squeeze it into apple juice. In that case, you will not be far away from being replaced, because everyone will draw the prototype.

For example, the requirements document states that "secondary navigation is continuously visible and easy for users to switch." But through experience or research results, you find that very few users will switch functions, so you can hide it properly. In fact, you did not do exactly what the requirements document said, but I believe that such a result, everyone will be satisfied.

3. Carding the structural process & design interface

Needless to say, an experienced professional interaction designer can complete a reliable design solution in a short period of time. Although the prototype of the product staff may be very profitable, the effect is really difficult to guarantee. There are thousands of people, without the guidance of professional interaction design principles and design specifications, everyone will be very different). Of course, in the end, a better effect can be achieved through repeated iterations, but this may take a long time.

Many people think that after joining the interaction designer's link, the entire process will become very slow. Actually not, the time must be shorter overall (because iterations caused by design errors are reduced). Of course, this is not necessary for small teams.

I have encountered such a situation: Faced with a very complicated function, the product staff spent several months to carefully craft the prototype, and finally passed the review of the project team to implement. But in the end, the effect was not good. The user was very confused and didn't know how to use it, and didn't understand what it meant. I think this is because the product staff is too professional and understands the complex usage logic behind the product, but ignores the usage habits of ordinary users. If a professional interaction designer joins in the process, I think it will take a shorter time to achieve better results.

Short-sighted designer OR forward-looking brand shaper-designer understanding and shaping of the brand

Designers also have a very important role in maintaining and highlighting the company's overall brand image. Product managers are too busy with their KPIs. How can they have the time and mind to be consistent with others? But the user experience team needs to be very capable.

Project participants OR promoters? The Impact of Interaction Designers on the Project

Save the time of product staff scratching their heads to draw prototypes; Save the time of product staffs constantly bumping the wall and repeatedly modifying the prototype; Avoid unnecessary iterations of the entire project due to some obvious errors; Save the number of user researchers doing usability tests ( Good interaction designers can find most problems with experience, saving time and cost of usability testing); saving time for visual designers to understand and repair 2B prototype drafts; saving time for front-end speculative incomplete prototype descriptions; Saved development complaints due to changing requirements or interactions ...

2. Follow up all links to ensure the quality of output

Although the product manager is also responsible for following up, various functions and development issues are already very large. If you are responsible for following up the design details, it will simply collapse. It doesn't matter, the interaction designer is your strong backing, follow-up vision, front-end (of course, follow-up of the visual designer is also important), development, and ensure that the final online result is consistent with the design draft to give the product a better experience (picture from Weibo, slightly modified).

3. Improve design quality and design efficiency.

After a period of accumulation, design specifications or templates are precipitated. Not only guarantee the design quality, but also improve the design efficiency. Prototyping by product staff is really fast in the short term, but because there is no uniform design standard, everyone's thinking is very different. If they are adjusted by personnel, it will be very troublesome. Of course the most unlucky is development.

4. Make the project process more reasonable and more planned

If you are a large team and you do nt have an interaction designer or a person with knowledge of interaction, the project process can easily become confusing. We often encounter the following situations: the requirements are not thought about at all; the prototype is rough and the subsequent work is difficult to carry out; the subsequent discovery of problems causes interactive changes and everyone reworkes together; the prototype description is incomplete, and every subsequent link adds bricks and tiles according to their own ideas, causing the product to leave the original The goal is far ...

The appearance of interaction designers can improve this situation to a certain extent: on the one hand, interaction design itself has certain processes and methods, which can avoid everyone's brains to think about problems; in addition, reliable prototypes make the process more Orderly, rework will also be greatly reduced.

5. Assist the product manager to organize all links and be a strong promoter of the entire project.

The interaction designer analyzes and reshapes the needs; cooperates with the user research to understand the user characteristics and behaviors; designs the structure, process, interface, and dynamic effects; follows up vision, front-end, and development; organizes online issues in time and prepares for the next iteration ... The process can be said to run through the product cycle, and he needs to deal with various links, communicate and coordinate, and PK ideas. Therefore, a good interaction designer is equivalent to a good housekeeper, assisting the product manager to organize all aspects, and is a powerful promoter of the entire project.

However, interaction designers still face a big crisis

Everything I said above has premise:

If it is a small company or a small team, the interaction designer is actually not needed because the small team has less communication costs and pays more attention to agility and efficiency. Even if there are any problems, you can quickly trial and error, and iterate quickly. Interaction designers are more likely to play a role in large companies and teams. Because big companies tend to move around and have a whole body, they need to have a sense of risk. The communication cost of big companies is higher, and they need to organize coordinators. Big companies pay more attention to brand image. Big companies need to avoid process iteration. Big companies need to consider The problem of personnel flow, timely precipitation methods and standards; large companies need to consider professionalism ...

If you can do what I said before, you are already a perfect interaction designer. Unfortunately, 90% of interaction designers may not be able to do this. I don't know how many designers are still living in the cracks, and looking at the product's face will live on.

So if some people say that the interaction designer is useless and has no output, then we need to review the reasons for ourselves: Is it because you went to a company that is not suitable for you; or your work is not enough. Because theoretically (as it has been proven earlier), a good interaction designer is very, very important.

What if there is no interaction designer?

Although the interaction designer is important, it does not mean that without him, the product will not survive. Many products I know don't have an interaction designer, but they still do a good job. In fact, understanding interaction may not be important. What is important is that you have a product-loving heart. Always remind yourself that "I am a user who doesn't understand anything." Let your brain be empty, and then truly experience your product and believe in you. Can also do well. However, unfortunately, in large companies, there are too few such people (the division of labor is too small, and it is difficult for someone to really care or be responsible for the product). Even if there are such people, they may not be the masters of the product.

With the development of the Internet and new technologies, there are more and more new products and interaction methods, and people are paying more and more attention to the experience of interaction. Many companies, websites, and emerging industries have begun to notice that interaction design plays a role in brand creation, The impact of customer recurrence and customer satisfaction is great, so interaction designers are getting more and more attention. After accumulating experience, it can be developed into project managers and other management. Its general monthly salary is 3,000-10,000 yuan.

As an interaction designer, you must have a deep understanding and understanding of the theory of user experience. You must have certain skills and skills in visual design and related positions such as XHTML / CSS, be familiar with the basic specifications of UI design, and have good creative design. Ability, proficient in using design tools such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver, good customer service awareness

The value of interaction design

By improving the design, users of the product can learn well, complete tasks quickly and efficiently, access the required information, purchase the required products, and obtain a unique experience and emotional satisfaction in the process of use .

The quality of the interaction design will affect the user's impression of the product, as well as the user's perception of the brand. Good interaction design will add value to the market, increase user loyalty to the brand, and promote sales, thus bringing a virtuous circle to the company's business.