Topics: What is Interaction Design?, Do You Have Your Own Website?, Domain Name Registration, Web hosting, WordPress, Teamwork, Design Process, Gathering Information: Defining the Problem, Client Survey

What is Interaction Design?

You know what Web Design is, and you’ve heard of Mobile Design— but what is Interaction Design?
Have you heard of this term?
Do you know what it is?

“Interaction design (IxD) is “the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services.” Like many other design fields Interaction Design also has an interest in form but its main focus is on behavior. What clearly marks Interaction design as a design field as opposed to a science or engineering field is that it is synthesis and imagining things as they might be, more so than focusing on how things are.

Interaction design is heavily focused on satisfying the needs and desires of the people who will use the product. ” – Wikipedia

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Interaction Design

Please read the following:

Do You Have Your Own Website?

If you’re serious about web/mobile/interaction design, It’s really important that you have your own website.

A potential client will expect you to have your own website. And your own website is a great place to practice improving your design and technical skills. I will support you in this process and am happy to answer any questions you have about creating your own site. Below are the two things you’ll need if you don’t already have them; a domain name and web hosting.

Domain Name Registration

Please review the following:

http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/beginner/domain-name-registration/

Web Hosting

Please review the following:

http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/beginner/web-hosting/

WordPress

In this class, we’ll use a Content Management System to create websites for our class blog. A content management system, commonly referred to as a “CMS” is “a computer application used to create, edit, manage, search and publish various kinds of digital media.” For our Process Blogs, we’ll use WordPress but there are many other CMS applications available such as Drupal, Joomla, and Expression Engine.

“WordPress is an open source blog publishing application. WordPress has a templating system, which includes widgets that can be rearranged without editing PHP or HTML code, as well as themes that can be installed and switched between. The PHP and HTML code in themes can also be edited for more advanced customizations. WordPress also features integrated link management; a search engine-friendly, clean permalink structure; the ability to assign nested, multiple categories to articles; multiple author capability; and support for tagging of posts and articles. Automatic filters that provide for proper formatting and styling of text in articles (for example, converting regular quotes to smart quotes) are also included. WordPress also supports the Trackback and Pingback standards for displaying links to other sites that have themselves linked to a post or article. Finally, WordPress has a rich plugin architecture which allows users and developers to extend its functionality beyond the features that come as part of the base install.”

Teamwork

In the design profession, nearly all important projects are too large to be completed by just one person. Because of this, each creative firm strives to develop a culture that fosters effective teamwork.

• Mutual respect
• A larger commitment to the project
• Open communication
• Monitoring progress daily and weekly

Please read the following article by Shel Perkins:

Building and Managing a Successful Design Team

Design Process

Gathering Information: Defining the Problems and Issues

Review the three websites that need to be streamlined into one Design Technology website: What are the current problems and issues with each of the three websites?

Take a look at the current Santa Monica College website? www.smc.edu.
What do you think the current problems and issues are with this site?

Defining the problems and issues is an important step. This step will lead to defining the goals for the site and the project overall. This is not a time to play the critic and to point out to the client all the ways their current site is “bad.” (If the website is successful, they probably don’t need you!) As a designer, you need to be sensitive to the client and develop the skills to effective communicate the current issues/problems and how to move towards a better solution. Your role as a designer is to be a problem solver.

Client Survey

Please review this document. 

http://www.everythingaboutweb.com/classes/downloads/03_client-survey.pdf

About jamie

Instructor for Graphic Design 67

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