Reading Response

Interaction Design Sketchbook by Bill Verplank

This reading emphasizes the importance of sketching, interaction, design, and paradigms when it comes to creating interactive products and systems. The reading starts off by explaining the importance of sketching. With computers now a days, one may think sketching is less important. This reading begs to differ as sketching a huge brainstorming tool. Sketching is very important for capturing preliminary observations and ideas. Sketches can literally be in any style you want them to be. They can be very neat and organized or they can be the exact opposite and be chaotic. Drawing out ideas can really help one see his or her vision much clearer. Drawing can be a straight depiction from the brain. The reading also talks about interaction design. Interaction design would mainly be used to describe industrial design. It is how to design for the user’s needs whether they are mental or physical needs. There are three questions interaction designers must answer when going about their work. How do you do? How do you feel? How do you know? Most simple designs require one to do, to feel, and to know. An successful interaction designer makes these three concepts of feeling, doing, and knowing easy and convenient. The third concept that the reading talks about is the actual design. The design for the product is the blueprint. The design must address all of the issues and concerns that have to do with the product. The design brings all of the interaction together and to life. For it to be successful it must be user friendly and easy to navigate. The last concept that the reading talks about is paradigms. A paradigm is a pattern or a model. This section of the reading emphasizes the importance of computers and how we use them. Over the last 50 years, computers have become a huge part of life. The reading explains that if we create computers to think more like people, it will be easier to design. It is very much emphasized that computers are tools as well as media. Computers have almost invaded every medium there is today. The media is where people express themselves. Computers allow us to represent whats real, what could be real, and whats imaginary. This idea creates so many possibilities for design.