On the train en route home, I am sorting through the thoughts that have crowded my mind these days.
Interaction23 has just concluded; it took place in the beautiful setting of Zurich and was the first one I participated in.I was immediately struck by the atmosphere (metaphorically) at these kinds of conferences: such a desire to compare, to understand, to share, surprising points of view, experiences.I was able to see with my own eyes how heterogeneous and in turmoil the world of digital design can be, and how many avenues it allows to explore.
What did we talk about?
Much has been said about the possible scenarios that AI is exploring, ethics, sustainability, and design applied to health.
The main themes undoubtedly suggest that design is in the service of humans, and is not meant to be an elitist fad.
I want to report the points of the speeches that struck me the most.
Day 1 — Undesign the defined
The title of the first day was Undesign the defined.
The opening keynote, by Brenda Laurel, was a message of hope. Starting from the difficult historical and climatic context in which we live, Brenda invited all designers to take part in change and design a positive way to interact with our planet, illustrating some very promising case studies.
I then attended Mark Zeh’s talk entitled Improving interactions with our stored memories.
I chose to listen to this talk because it addressed topics that I have enjoyed studying during my academic journey.
Mark began his reflections by asking how redesigning interactions can help us more effectively remember things we have seen or experienced digitally, and whether there are better ways to remember information we have stored externally. Using models of human and transactive memory, in this talk Mark Zeh highlighted the pitfalls of our current digital interactions and suggested new ways to improve their design to help us all remember better, work better, and live better. In particular, he suggested adding tangibility to the design of interactions by using tricks:
- prompt for a descriptive word or note (preferably written by hand, or even sung or spoken)
- remind people to touch and smell things around them
- make it easy to doodle, highlight and mark up
- design in “see and do”.
Another speech that particularly interested me was The Shape of Data: Designing the amorphous and ephemeral by Benjamin Wiederkehr.
The talk started with the now well-known assumption that data is probably the most influential commodity produced and consumed today. New ways are being found to raise questions and solve problems that are changing the way science is enjoyed. As designers we have the power to positively affect people’s experience when they use data.Data are by nature formless and boundless.
To be understood effectively by people, it must first be molded into a tangible object that conforms to our human capabilities and limitations. This can take the common form of tables, charts or maps. But designers must not limit themselves to visual representations. To make data accessible, inclusive, and intuitive, designers can transform it into physical artifacts, sound compositions, embodied interactions, and spatial experiences.Benjamin showed a wide range of visualizations, sonifications, and physicalizations of data. The ways in which design allows people to interact with this arid and seemingly ani-less material are truly amazing.
Matt Corrall’s talk, How to design the interfaces of the future, revolved mainly around the interaction designer, and specifically around spatial and gesture interfaces, what their use cases are, and what you need to know to be prepared to design one.Matt brought some examples of design and research he has worked on at Ultraleap with hand tracking and haptic technologies, showing examples and variations of gestures to consider in interaction design.
In the afternoon I had the opportunity to meet and listen to Marihum Pernia, a truly passionate and overwhelming designer. In her talk (Technology and ethics: a new design paradigm) Marihum emphasized how the word design is still the same, but the act of designing has profoundly changed. Designers no longer work only in design studios. Private sector companies, medium and large consulting firms, start-ups, and governments now have in-house design teams.
Design is becoming a multifaceted practice, and today’s designer is concerned with orchestrating interconnected systems, devising new strategic frames of innovation, and designing new organizational ecosystems. We are becoming the managers of complexity in processes and silos.In addition, designers are acquiring a new data-driven language. The fourth industrial revolution and the advent of technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have enabled the emergence of disruptive experiences, new behaviors and human expectations.
Technology has become part of our interactions, but it can also lead to scenarios that are not positive. Therefore, we as designers need to be bearers of ethical values. We must also defend and care for technological processes and outcomes to ensure equity for humanity.Ethics, as a system of moral principles, should enable us to limit the damage in today’s context.Thus, the role of the designer has greatly changed, but its relevance for the future has also changed.
In the talk Voice UX Co-Creation & Ideation with the Blind Community, Kelly Goto and Colin Wong told a beautiful case of accessible design applied to speech UX. Voice UX continues to evolve, from chatbot environments to artificial intelligence-enhanced natural language processing. Voice is a unifying element for all abilities and ages, but it has yet to become a ubiquitous part of the UX design process.
Kelly Goto and Colin Wong have defined a process called “descriptive UX”, which aims to turn real needs and wish-list items into a working voice prototype.
This process consists of three main features:
- goal-oriented: when brainstorming describe ‘ideal scenarios’ with specific goals and outcomes in mind, focusing on the end benefit;
- descriptive and detailed: principiants should describe each set of interactions in as much detail as possible, focusing on a clear path and then diving into alternative paths;
- story-driven: stories should be told from a personal perspective. Allow conversation to flow, but keep moving towards simpler, concise descriptions and summarize along the way.
Day 2 — Design the undefined
The title of the second day was Design the undefined.
Lennart Overkamp wanted to Redefine the concept of success in the field of design.
The main goal of most designers involved in ethical design has been to promote the field through discussions, articles, tools, frameworks. But from a business perspective, this is not the right level of influence. Even if we succeed in improving design at the micro level, our good intentions are thwarted by business incentives that reward scale, ever-increasing involvement, and efficiency.
This is nobody’s fault but simply the system we are in: under business-as-usual conditions, it makes “sense” to divert people’s attention, facilitate the flow of money into the hands of the 1 percent and sacrifice nature to safeguard productivity.
To structurally integrate ethics into our processes, methods and tools-what Lennart calls “everyday ethical design” — we need to redefine the meaning of success for every design project we undertake. Everything else comes later.
In his daily work, Lennart has attempted to redefine design success in practice, such as by managing a bottom-up change initiative, experimenting in client projects, and structurally implementing accountability in the processes of the product company he works for.
Lennart brought to attention the following six possible action points:
- Business-as-usual (capitalism) is the core problem to ‘solve’: understand the (financial) paradigm of business and take steps to minimise/undo its harmful impact
- Going ‘glocal’ is our way to a regenerative and just world: take action in your sphere of influence and share your lessons with the world
- Add ‘ethics’ to the definition of the success: aim to achieve wellbeing, equity, and sustainability in everything you do
- Influence the system on the right level: set ethical objectives, define leading metrics, and self-organise in bottom-up initiatives
- Kick it off, or fall back to the status quo: align expectations, define success explicitly, and draft a project brief
- Practice ‘Daily Ethical Design’: structuraly integrate ethics into your daily work, processes and tools.
Jack Holmes talked about how to Transform society by redesigning the tools of work.
As designers we have the power to influence people’s lives by transforming the way they work.
When we work, we use tools, and these tools are all designed, but many are designed unknowingly. The impact of this is inefficient processes, job dissatisfaction, people quitting their jobs. Design can change this.
First, Jack wanted us to reflect on our last design project by asking how much time we spent with the people who will use the tools we designed. (How much do we understand people? Have we ever been in the place where they use the tool?)
We then need to consider how we measure the success of our designs. Is it just about the tool we are creating or the people who use it? Do metrics like task execution time and error rate measure anything really useful? Or are they cosmetic metrics to prove to ourselves that we have done a good job?
Finally, we must become aware of the impact that the tools we design have on society at large. The person using our tool, “our user,” is not the only one impacted. We must consider the broader implications of the tools we create.
The three main take aways:
- get out of the design bubble
- measure metric that matter to people
- focus on the people at the end of the experience.
Tiia Leppänen addressed a topic that is close to my heart: Designers enable a great experience for developers.
The concept of Developer Experience began to spread in the digital industry and intensified during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. For developers, many common pain points, use cases, and user paths are recognized. There are many solutions on the market that offer tools and platforms for developers, for example, to improve their efficiency and productivity.How can designers help improve the developer experience?
Designers are experts in identifying the needs of users and developers.We study user paths and try to identify pain points.We are experts at breaking down the user path into sections and creating a smooth transition through the stages that consider different types of touchpoints.
As designers, we have to treat developers like any other user in any other project. This could be challenging because users are very close to the challenge and already have clearly defined new solutions in their heads. But this situation is undoubtedly where designers are needed: to bring people’s ideas together and direct them toward common solutions.
Pardis Shafafi and Giulia Bazoli presented Do No Harm framework for design, a practical approach to help design professionals begin to consider and apply ethics in projects and the design process.
As designers we create services, products and systems that permeate society and are used by everyone. Design processes also impact the lives of the people they touch, directly and indirectly.
In the design industry, however, problematic situations have been created for global communities, such as echo chambers, polarization, social media dependence, and dark patterns. As designers, we are in a privileged position, and we need to be aware of our responsibilities to the systems and people we design for and with, and begin to consider more nuanced and complex ethical discussions.
“Do no harm” is the Hippocratic oath that guides health care practitioners to “know how to tell the antecedents, know the present, and predict the future” and to have two approaches toward their field, “to do good or do no harm”. Design, unlike health care, does not have a shared set of ethical guidelines that can empower practice toward responsible design. When contextualized in design practice, Do No Harm does not mean “do nothing”. It means avoiding exposing people to additional risks through the actions of designers. The intention is to step back from an intervention, understand the broader context, and mitigate potential negative effects that could impact the social fabric of our societies, economies, and environments.
To this end, precisely, Pardis and Julia presented the “Do No Harm framework for design,” introducing the constituent points of Do No Harm:
- Define the impact areas
- Self-reflect on the team
- Use risks prompts to identify risks
- Priorities what risk to focus on
- Identify related measures and allocate an owner
These points were followed by a combination of case studies and examples.
I look forward to seeing the concrete applications of this model.
Alina Karl exhibited her study entitled How to Design for Human Aging.
As we age, the body and our perception change. We would expect our environments to take into account the needs of aging people, but in reality most digital services are designed primarily by and for younger people.
How can we design for human aging?
A good starting point may be an inclusive mindset and empathetic decisions. However, to turn intentions into actions, we need practical methods.
Alina conducted qualitative research to find out how aging affects the experience of digital products. This research forms the basis for the following 5 methods for a truly inclusive design process:
- in-person testing
- behavioral archetypes based on a behavioral design approach
- accessibility guidelines adapted to age-related limitations
- product interaction map to align product requirements with user capabilities
- a critical attitude toward interface conventions
To create inclusive digital products, designers need to consider age-related changes throughout the design process. And we need practical ways to avoid ageism and design without bias.
Lara Portmann talked about Normativity by design: Challenging the ideal of the invisible interface.
One of the most persistent myths in design is that, ideally, interfaces should be invisible. For some this means futuristic ideals of non-material interfaces; for most it means designing things so that an interface feels natural, intuitive, and, because of that, “invisible” to users. But rarely do we stop to ask: What are the implications of an (apparently) invisible interface?
Our attachment to the invisible interface is inevitably linked to issues of power and inequality-sometimes in ways we might not have anticipated or intended, but nonetheless causing real and preventable harm.
Day 3 — Outlook to the future
The title of the last day was Outlook to the future.
Hideaki Matsui’s talk (Spatial Interaction — (re)defining the relationship between humans and computers in physical spaces) left me breathless.
Throughout the history of computing, humans have continued to adapt to new ways of using technology (Computer mouse, touchscreen, voice…). Hideaki tried to observe the reverse path: what if technology adopted human needs?
Spatial interaction is a theme of HCI and a design framework with the goal of creating natural ways of interacting with computers and AI agents in physical spaces. We humanize sensing technologies and machine perceptions to understand user context through a combination of verbal and nonverbal cues such as voice, face, presence, proximity, hand movements, and gaze.
Hideaki showed deu case studies with real interactions currently available on consumer products created over more than 5 years of research and product development. Throughout his research, he revisited the meaning of natural interactions to learn from social interaction, proxemics and human factors/ergonomics to achieve more thoughtful ways of interacting with information and technologies. Really insane!
It was then Jill Lin’s turn, with her talk Reshaping How We Design Interactions With Possibilities, Responsibility and Play.
Jill got us thinking about how play can push boundaries and bring new perspectives to interaction design. Through imagination, we can design responsibly to open an optimistic path to design. Play is for everyone, it is democraive. Designing through play inspires possibility and allows interaction design to move beyond the “here and now”. It creates positive change that has longevity and makes us proud to hold ourselves accountable for what we bring into the world.
The last talk I attended was probably my absolute favorite.
Daragh Anderson, with Design and the Scientific Method: How to Logic-Power Your Creativity, took us on a journey between science and design.
We started with the assumption that we live in an increasingly plural and complex world in which vast amounts of new data and scientific hypotheses are generated. But not all data is insight.
Design has always been the creative and human key to accessible and inspiring communication of information and ideas, but what is the place of design today?
According to Daragh, complex, technical and scientific problem spaces may represent the most exciting and under-explored creative frontier for today’s designers.
In his talk, Daragh invited us to be inspired by the following points:
- Create trust through objectivity
- Be inspired by new frontiers
- Understand the data
- Augment your design process
- Test beyond your sample
- Get quantitative
- The best design is peer reviewed
- Show your workings
- Incremental approximation
- You belong!
What do I take away from IxD23?
Interaction is an international conference, which is why it allows you to connect with designers from all over the world.
What emerges clearly is that designers today play a more important role and with more responsibility than they think.
Beyond the individual speeches and speakers, who bring invaluable value to the event, what matters most is the chance to make connections with those who do the same work as you do. Every conversation, every confrontation becomes an incredible source of inspiration. You can talk to people who work in the company of your dreams, ask questions, understand.
Lthe best thing is that you can see for yourself that design still has a long way ahead of it, and there is an opportunity for everyone to contribute constructively.
