Interactive Design

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Interactive design is the discipline of defining the behaviour of products and systems that the user can interact with. It also concerns story-creating and telling and it is both an ancient and new technology. The media are always effecting the telling of stories and the creation of experiences and currently the new media are offering capabilities and opportunities not yet addressed in the history of interaction and performance.

There is also a general process that most interactive designers follow, in order to create a solution to a known problem. The six major steps are:

1. Design Research: This involves the designer investigating users and their environment for a better understanding of them.

2. Research Analysis and Concept Generation: This step usually involves multiple rounds of brainstorming, discussion and refinement.

3. Alternative Design and Evaluation: Designers develop alternative solutions to help convey concepts and ideas.

4. Prototyping and Usability Testing: The designer uses a variety of techniques to test aspects of design ideas.

5. Implementation: Being involved in the development of the product to ensure what is being designed is implemented correctly.

6. System Testing: Once the system is built, another round of testing is required for both usability and errors.