What is interaction design?
Interaction design is a combination of design and technology and is primarily concerned with the design of digital products. The goal of interaction design is to create intuitive solutions that make it easy for the target group to use the product or service.
What does an interaction designer do?
An interaction designer focuses on how people use buttons and menus on a mobile phone or website, for example. They work on creating prototypes of a digital product or service. The work takes place on various digital tools such as Adobe XD, Figma, Sketch and other tools. There, they work to understand the possibilities of the technology, while also understanding the limitations that exist. Typically, an interaction designer works with:
- Analysis: Identifies the needs of the target group.
- Prototyping: Creating sketches of a design, to test different features and layouts of one or more pages.
- User testing: An important factor is user testing, and is essential to know what people think about the service, design and user experience.
- Visual design: An interaction designer works closely with graphic designers to ensure a good interface and usability.
An interaction designer can work on mobile, websites, desktop and TV to name a few platforms.
Are UX design and interaction design the same thing?
No, it's not the same thing, although a UX designer and an interaction designer work closely together and sometimes have overlapping skills. An interaction designer looks at the design of various buttons and menus, while a UX designer looks at the overall user experience.