Interaction
design, also known as IxD, is the process of creating a user-friendly, digital
product that will delight users and lead to creating a loyal user base for the
product. An interaction designer has to ensure that the layout of a digital
product be it on web, mobile, wearbales or whatever comes next helps a user easily
navigate and interact with a product without confusing or frustrating him. The
idea is to help them achieve their goals with minimal difficulty.
Here
are 6 interaction design principles that will help you design easy-to-use,
functional and valuable products.
1. Maintain Consistency in Interaction Patterns
A product
design that confuses the user is never a good one.
Sometimes,
while designing a product interface, you may find the urge to break stereotypes
and do something different. This may work if you’re offering a new,
unconventional service but not in the case of established interaction patterns.
Your users shouldn’t be questioning functions rather they should be able to
easily interact with the interface. Use designs and patterns that the user
expects, and can easily understand, across all your services and products.
2. Don’t
Overly Complicate Or Simplify
When
you’re designing an interaction, it’s important to bear in mind that too many
functions will confuse the user. Keep the design clutter-free and focus more on
the primary functions that will help the user access key functionality and
features. On the other hand, if you take an extremely minimalistic approach,
you might not include some vital functions in the interface.
The
key to a good design is to create an engaging interface that’s not overly
complicated or too simplistic.
3. Don’t
Make The User Think
Steve
Krug, a user experience professional, states in his book “Don’t Make Me Think”
that a user shouldn’t be left to predict how a function works. As a designer,
you should ensure that a user can understand the interface like the back of his
hand. Use icons, layouts, and designs that they are familiar with, and can
easily comprehend. This way, you will be able to keep your users engaged with
your product.
4. Prioritize
Based on Product Functionality
In
the case of interaction design, the Pareto principle (or the 80-20 rule) lays
emphasis on “20% of the functions that are used 80% of the time.”
This
means your interactions should focus on those functionalities that are more
likely to be used than the advanced ones. Design the interaction in a way that
it allows beginners to easily navigate to advanced functions and not overwhelm
them in the first instance.
5. Design
for Easy Affordance
The
affordance of an object is its ability to hint at how it should be used. A
simple example would be the ‘Add to cart’ button that you click on when you’re
shopping online, which clearly defines for a user what the expected action is.
When
building affordance for a digital product, you have to make sure that a user
can easily understand how different functions work. They shouldn’t be hovering
over an icon, wondering what it will entail. Instead, they should be able to
immediately understand what the function will do, and how they should use it.
6. Always
Start with Information Architecture
Information
Architecture (IA) is crucial when you’re designing any kind of digital product.
It involves creating site maps, hierarchies, navigations, categories and
nomenclature. An interaction designer creates the IA for a digital product so
that he can define how users will navigate across the product and where the
functions should be placed. Since this is the most important base of your
design, you should start with information architecture before going ahead with
other design strategies.
These
are some of the basic principles that will help you design well structured and
user-friendly interactions. To sum it up, first, have the information
architecture in place and then ensure that you maintain consistency in your
design patterns. Keep the design engaging but not too complicated and never make
the user think unnecessarily about how the interface works. Lastly, make sure
that the core functions are given the most importance and the interface has
good affordance built into it.
