31777 Advanced Interaction Design

Description

This subject focuses on the concept of user experience (UX) in Interaction design. UX is defined as a person's perceptions and responses that result from the use of a digital product, system or service. Understanding how to approach UX in design is a major focus in interaction design because the quality of UX can affect people's adoption of a particular designed technology. For many technology design companies, paying attention to how people experience their products is the edge that can potentially set them apart from their competition. However, designing UX effectively is difficult because the term UX is very problematic, meaning very different things to different people, in academic research and in industry.

Firstly, students are provided with some conceptual tools to help them talk about UX productively: to identify, describe, analyse and critique real-life experiences with various types of digital technologies. To put these skills into practice, students are introduced to a range of current and emergent human-computer interactions such as mobile and social computing, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, quantified self, and the 'internet of things' (IoT). Through discussing and exploring particular characteristics, interaction styles, affordances, and the ways these technologies are used in our everyday lives, students develop the skills to be able to understand the types of user experiences that arise from people's interactions with particular technologies, while pursuing specific goals, whether alone or with others, carried out in particular contexts. Through this, they understand how to consider relevant and appropriate user experiences to support when designing for different kinds of human-computer interactions.

Students also learn methods, concepts, and techniques used in design activities to support for a specific user experience. This includes user research techniques, sketching, storyboarding, prototyping and evaluation approaches that can support them to design appropriate and engaging user experiences. They hone their skills through responding to a real-world problem, designing a technology solution that not only meets the users' needs effectively but, more importantly, supports desirable and potentially engaging experiences. By building upon students' prior understandings of fundamental interaction design concepts and processes, it is expected that when they successfully complete this subject, they are able to not only design useful and usable technologies, but also technologies that are optimised to support the users' experience.

Typical availability

Spring session, City campus