Information Interaction Design – by Nathan Shedroff
In the article, Information Interaction Design - by Nathan Shedroff, Nathan discusses design as an intricate intersection of Information, Interaction, and Sensorial Design. He starts off talking about needing a process to solve “information overload.” This I agree with as we are in the Information era and need to sift through so much information in so many medias. In Information Design, he describes data as being “fairly worthless to most of us.” I have to disagree with him here, or maybe I don’t fall in the “most” category. As an engineer, I like to deal with the actual data rather than the author’s interpretation. I tend to feel that most information (being described as “relationships between data”) is data with an opinionated spin on it, making it pretty worthless to me. You can take data and present it as a statistic showing pretty much whatever you want it to show.
Nathan notes that there are seven ways to organize data by: alphabet, location, time, continuum, number, category, or random. Experiment to find the best method.
He gives an example of the Vietnam Memorial, in which the names are listed by time, creating an emotional reaction and how the memorial would be completely different had it been organized in another way. Of course, most organizations use multiple methods.
Metaphors can be used when appropriate.
Define goals as early in the design process as possible.
Clarity
Interaction Design
Nathan says the best way to learn about interaction design is through the performing arts.
Encourage participation
