The interaction in product design

by Derrick Corea Technosoft Innovations, Inc

One aspect little reviewed by designers is how humans interact with products. The interaction can be a starting point for design, for example, we can think about how to create a new object to 'communicate' instead of designing a 'new' cell phone (box with buttons, or with touch screen). We can also think about how the interaction can flow-or segment-the user-product relationship. In the first section of this post I develop these two ideas and in the second section I present a list of attributes that can be put into practice to design it.

Interaction as a starting point in the design process

The design for interaction is a strategy that can help design specialists to propose and explore ideas that question the established, for example, it seems that the future of electronic product designing objects is linked to touch screens and clicks on icons. It can also help them explore ideas that can create fun or elegant interactions.

Three ways to interact with a coffeemaker

The three coffee makers are linked to specific types of interaction. In the coffee maker on the left side, a filter is placed, coffee and water is poured on the back, to prepare it press a button and wait a few minutes. In the second option, water is poured into the lower container, then coffee is placed in a special compartment that is between the lower and upper container. The coffee is pressed to compact it and the coffee machine is closed. To prepare it, press a button and wait a few minutes. In the coffee machine on the right side, boil water in a teapot, then pour coffee directly into the glass container, then add the hot water. To prepare it, the upper attachment is pressed hard three or four times.

As you can see, the action of preparing coffee can be done in several ways. If the starting point of the design process is: the action of preparing coffee, it is necessary that the designer focuses on exploring different ways of interacting with an object to prepare coffee, and considering the traditional ingredients to prepare it (water and coffee). So, instead of designing a 'new' coffee machine only in appearance, we can think about how to do it surprisingly, interestingly, challengingly, or showing respect to the user. Once the ideal interaction is identified then it is passed to the stage in which the physical characteristics of the product are determined.

The interaction and its relation to the shape of the products

When we see an object, we automatically evaluate it and prepare to relate to it. An example of this is the glass that looks like glass but that is manufactured with plastic. People think it is made of glass and think it is heavier, however, when holding and lifting it they realize that they miscalculated the weight and applied more force when lifting it. In this way, the impression that a product causes on its appearance is confirmed or revoked, when interacting with it. Many times, designers concentrate only on the form and not on what the person will feel, on thinking if the interaction flows properly with the form, this can result in the creation of attractive but terrible products in their interaction. For this reason, the term, the aesthetics of interaction, arose some years ago. The central idea is not only to create beauty in what people see, but also in what they feel. This is because when interacting with products, all our senses are involved. When a person uses a camera for the first time, he perceives characteristics that can only be felt, for example, the resistance of the trigger; if it does not resist, the user may think that it is of poor quality, if it is very resistant, it may think that it is not easy to use, so finding a balance in the resistance is very important to communicate the quality of the product. In addition, it has been shown that confusing the senses (vision-touch) is a strategy to surprise the user (Ludden, 2007). In the same way, when people interact with an object, they can determine a meaning, that can coincide or contradict the language that communicates the form of the product (Desmet, Ortiz Nicolas, Schoormans, 2008). Through the 'feel', users can tell if something like it or not.

How do you think the interaction will be?

And how interaction design?

Some years ago, I designed some objects to communicate two different personalities in physical interaction as part of a research project at the Technological University of Delft (Ortíz Nicolás, 2006). One of the results of this research, was that designers do not have tools to design it, for example, there is nothing similar to the sketch that serves to determine the shape of the product, nor have been clearly determined what are the 'elements' that specialists in design they can modify the interaction (Desmet, Ortíz Nicolás, and Schoormans, 2008). To clarify the idea of 'elements', I will briefly mention some characteristics that can be modified to determine the interaction of a product (see note 1).

Weight. Force with which the Earth attracts a body. This is a definition of the RAE, however, the idea is related to the weight that the person perceives when holding a product, for example, when loading a suitcase or a laptop.

Resistance. The force that an object opposes when interacting with it, for example, the resistance of the controls of a joystick or the trigger in a camera.

Texture. The physical structure of a material, for example, roughness, smoothness. This texture can also feel like the friction of two surfaces. Vibration is included in this category.

Speed. The lightness or promptness in the movement required to manipulate a product, for example, the speed at which messages are reproduced on screens.

Force. The ability to move something, for example, the force that is exerted when pedaling a bicycle.

Temperature. The heat or cold that is felt when touching objects.

Flexibility . The characteristic of some materials to be bent, for example, some plastics as opposed to glass.

A lamp that simulates glass but that is plastic

All these 'elements' can be modified, and these are aspects that can be considered when designing the user-product interaction.