Interaction Design

How the Course Was Developed
Course Preview

This course is designed to provide both an introduction to the principles of interaction design and direct experience tackling design problems.

Along the way students will become familiar with the tools and procedures commonly used in professional interaction design work and be introduced to the work of respected researchers, writers and practitioners in the field.

Early lessons cover interaction design principles that apply to any software design project. Building on this foundation, the next lessons focus on web design, the current popular medium.

To focus attention on different types of interactive design problems, students examine three different site genres: Consumer Information, Identity, and Online Shopping.

Lesson 9 focuses on the impact of technology on design. Lesson 10 wraps up the course with a look at the future of interaction design and gives students a chance to polish their major projects and get feedback on them.

Alan developed numerous schematics and site maps to illustrate common interaction design problems and solutions.

Alan brought 14 years of experience designing and developing interactive software to both the process of designing the course and the content of the course.

The course includes references to respected publications both on and off-line. Real world examples of both good and bad design are linked to the course content at appropriate points.