This week, we took a trip back through the history of interaction design, how it's developed and where it's headed. Although this was a shorter lecture due to the critique, it was still very useful since it focused on the future of IXD, which is what I will hopefully one day be a part of.
We began by exploring how the digital ecosystem has evolved:
First of all we looked at the proliferation of different devices such as computers and mobile phones, and also various interfaces. We learned about how since the context of the devices use is constantly evolving, its very important as designers to try and stay up to date with relevant changes. This is because the content you create will strongly affect the users experience, so ensuring its contextually relevant to them will improve their experience.
Tim Berners Lee was the inventor of the World Wide Web. He created the browser in 1990 when he was working at CERN. At the time there was nothing else like what Tim Berners-Lee created, the idea of linking information together so anyone anywhere could access it was revolutionary. Although we briefly touched on him last week, his contribution is so significant I think he was definitely a good person to revisit.
John Allsopp, author of The Dao of Web Design believed that the web isn’t supposed to be controlled, but open and free to sue by everyone. Berners-Lee didn’t want to own the web, it was designed to belong to everyone.
Next we looked at the here and now of technology, UIs and augmented/virtual reality. This felt relevant as we talked about the tech we currently have, ( wearable tech like smart watches, home automation) and then more about where the future of this is headed. I especially enjoyed finding out about AI driven systems, that require minimal and sometimes even no direct human interface. AI is becoming increasingly prominent in all aspects of society, so understanding how it works for and with designers is very useful.
new galaxy watch using AI
example of a ‘smart house’
We then looked at how the web is evolving toward outcome-oriented design, where the goal is not just to create interfaces but to design for user outcomes.