soFreakingEdgy.net - Interactive Design Fundamentals
Class Information:
Fundamentals of Interaction Design
H79.2552 (Robert Fabricant) Tuesday 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
This class provides students with a conceptual framework for designing interactive experiences. The tools and methods covered in this class can be applied to any platform, from screen-based applications to physical computing projects to interactive environments. The course touches on a wide range of design disciplines (graphic design, information design, product design) as they relate to the creation of compelling interactive user experiences. The course is divided into three sections: Principles, Context, and Systems. It takes a heuristic approach to interactive design. Students work through a series of discrete design exercises covering basic concepts such as affordance, feedback, and modality. These exercises cover different types of interactive experiences, from simple, appliance-like design problems to dense information systems. Students gain a hands-on understanding of how to combine physical controls and screen-based design elements to support different types of interactions. In the second section students acquire the tools and methods to conduct primary research with end-users, deriving insights from direct observational research to shape their design solutions. In the final section we look at some of the prevailing models for interactive systems, drawing from gaming, Web 2.0, and pervasive computing. Students make use of the knowledge and experience acquired during the class to create a set of interaction design patterns that can be applied to a large-scale interactive system.

Class Site: itp.nyu.edu/interaction
Syllabus: itp.nyu.edu/~rqf6375/blog/?page_id=5
Class flickr Account: www.flickr.com/photos/78894564@N00/

Class 1 Assignments:
1. Classify the input mechanisms on flickr
2. Create a slider control from physical materials
3. Simulate the properties of your physical slider in a screen-based control
4. Reading: excerpt from The Psychology of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
5. Reading: excerpt from Abstracting Craft by Malcolm McCullough
6. Reading: excerpt from The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge
7. Reading: excerpt from The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra
Class 2 Assignments:
1. Alarm clock design
2. Reading: Less is More (PDF) by Bill Buxton
3. Reading: But Donald, Tell Us How (PDF) by Stephan Wensveen, Kees Overbeeke, and Tom Djajadiningrat
4. Reading: excerpt from The Invisible Computer by Donald Norman
5. Reading: excerpt from The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
Class 3 Assignments:
1. 1000-floor Elevator
2. Reading: excerpt from Human Skills in Interface Design by Bill Buxton
3. Reading: excerpt from User Interface a Personal View by Alan Kay
4. Reading: excerpt from About Face by Alan Cooper
5. Reading: excerpt from Information Interaction Design by Nathan Shedroff
6. Reading: Communicability and the Designers's Deputy Discourse
7. Reading: First Principles of Interaction Design
8. Reading: Blueprints for the Web
9. Reading: Design as Communication
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