Abstract
IDEO Product Development is a multidisciplinary consultancy with offices worldwide.
This overview describes how interaction design personnel within the San Francisco and London
offices work with other disciplines such as human factors and industrial design to apply a five
step, user-centered approach to product development. Three broad areas of interaction design
work and the IDEO design process are described.
Keywords:
interaction design, information design, multimedia, human factors, user
interface, prototyping, hardware integration, user-centered design
Introduction
IDEO Product Development is a design consultancy employing close to 200 people
from a range of disciplines, including electrical engineering, human factors, industrial design,
interaction design, and mechanical engineering. IDEO came into being in 1991 as a result of a
merger of David Kelley Design, Matrix Product Design, ID TWO, and Moggridge Associates -
individual consultancies established as early as 1969. IDEO offices are located in Boston,
Chicago, London, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Tokyo. Design programs are primarily undertaken
for external clients, and range from the design of toothbrushes, to the engineering of a blood gas
analyzer, to the design of the features and human computer interface for an on-line service.
Interaction design is based within the San Francisco and London offices (which also
house other disciplines) and comprises approximately 10 people with varied backgrounds,
including fine art, graphic design, industrial design, software development and systems design.
Based on the project at hand, ad hoc teams are assembled with the appropriate and necessary
mix of skills. Usually one person is designated the primary contact, while other team members,
such as human factors personnel, may vary their involvement throughout the project's duration.
THREE CATEGORIES OF INTERACTION WORK
Interaction design projects typically fall into one of three categories as described
below. These categories evolved, primarily in the order listed, as the interaction design discipline
grew within the organization.
Hardware/Software Integration
Interaction design at IDEO originated within this category almost 10 years ago as a
direct offshoot of industrial design activity. At that time, work on medical, telephony and
computer products was undertaken from the product design aspect only. Frustration quickly set
in, as the designers realized that the attractive packaging and "hard" interfaces they were
designing often enclosed unusable "soft" functionality, accessed through LED panels or
computer displays over which they had no design control. Consequently, the designers began
undertaking all aspects of product interaction. The Trimble NavGraphic LORAN navigation
computer is one example of early work in this area.
Lacking the prototyping tools available today, early interaction mock-ups were often
executed using slides, video or paper ( Fig. 1). Recent work includes medical instrument
prototypes, incorporating dials and sliders which directly control the screen display. These
sophisticated mock-ups are suitable for client testing and evaluation in realistic situations.
Software Application Design
Software-only products emerged as a second interaction design category. Frequently,
this work requires creating application interfaces that conform to platform-specific graphical
user interfaces such as Macintosh, Windows or Motif. The application tasks, however, vary
widely - from organization tools for novices (XSoft's TabWorks), to programming environments
(Lucid), to specialist's network visualization tools (Tandem).
Client needs can also vary widely. Some clients are transitioning from command-line
to graphical user interfaces and have never visualized their data before. Others are established
software application vendors who need to create an evolutionary product that solves new
problems and fits within the old framework.
Recent work includes interfaces for on-line services, where clients are less concerned
with standard GUIs. In addition, the boundaries between hardware/software integration design
and software-only design are dissolving in many industries, as we witness conventional personal
computers become the interfaces to hardware in extremely localized and specific tasks.
Interactive Media and Content
Within the last year we took on several projects addressing the representation of, and
interaction with, content. IDEO does not envision becoming a comprehensive production house;
client work in new media is currently oriented towards setting design directions in collaboration
with external production houses.
Several internally funded interactive media projects have been undertaken. In August
of 1994, the American Center for Design Journal published a special issue on Interaction Design
containing a CD-ROM edited by IDEO. The editing task included constructing a navigational
interface and integrating content supplied by a variety of contributors. In addition, members of
the interaction team created an interactive portfolio of IDEO work for use in client presentations.
A FIVE STAGE PROCESS
While in practice interaction design seldom follows a linear path, IDEO basically uses
a five stage process which is reinterpreted and creatively applied to each design program. It is
grounded in a user-centered methodology; the goal is to create attractive products that are also
highly usable and offer desirable functionality. IDEO perceives interaction design as the end
result of successfully merging technological possibilities with the wants, needs and desires of the
end user. The five stages of the process are described below, in idealized sequential order.
Understand
Often projects are in a domain completely unfamiliar to the IDEO team and
interaction design is an unfamiliar discipline to the client. Therefore, a 'kickoff' workshop is
typically held, during which IDEO describes the design process and the client provides insight
into their concerns, biases, and organizational structure. Ideally, this phase helps establish a
common language between the client and IDEO and initiates development of a design team that
bridges both organizations.
During this phase, the IDEO team gathers information about competitive products,
the client's proprietary technology, and the client's own understanding of advantageous and
disadvantages they bring to the table. Additional reference material is gathered and reviewed.
The client's marketing and focus group data is consulted.
Observe
While clients can often provide insight into their customers needs, IDEO finds it
invaluable to supplement this information with a few informal observations of key users doing
key tasks. These observations differ from focus groups in that people are observed within their
familiar surroundings, doing what they normally do. The people and tasks observed are carefully
selected to best cover the space of the design problem. Observations are recorded using still
photography and/or videotape.
Visualize and Predict
In this phase, information gathered in earlier phases is synthesized and creatively
extended; the envisioning of key interaction ideas begins. Frequently, the technique of creating
characters and scenarios is used. Characters representing potential users of the product under
design are identified and described; each is given a name and identifying characteristics, and
may resemble an amalgam of the users observed. A usage scenario is constructed for each
character, portraying and predicting how the end product is used, the context in which it is used,
and the functionality it provides. These scenarios are often illustrated using imagery gathered
during the observation phase, and the resulting storyboards are used in brainstorming. As
interaction ideas emerge - and the exact process whereby they do emerge is rather
unpredictable and undocumentable - they are visualized in simulations suitable for informal
evaluation.
Evaluate and Refine
The simulations generated at the conclusion of the previous phase may be executed
on paper or, at the other end of the spectrum, in software using tools such as MacroMedia
Director or HyperCard. For example, one early design for a remote controlled interactive TV
system was tested using only paper. When users 'pushed' buttons on a paper illustration of a
remote, they were shown, on paper, the television screens that would result (the tester quickly
retrieved the screen from a 3 ring binder of possibilities). As the design was refined based on
feedback, the testing strategy was also refined; users were eventually placed in front of a two
screen system, one screen depicted the remote and incorporated a touch screen. Once a
selection was touched, the other screen displayed the appropriate TV screen.
The boundary between this phase and the previous one is often blurred, and designs
typically pass through several iterations of visualization and evaluation before a design is
finalized. The end result is often a synthesis of the designers' intuitions and feedback from users'
evaluations.
Implement
The final deliverable to a client can take many forms; the desired form is typically
defined during the Understand phase. If a detailed design was created, a full specification of
interaction methods and their representations (actual digital images) is delivered. Alternatively,
design guidelines characterizing a framework within which to make decisions might be provided.
The end product can be conveyed through a written document, a software simulation and/or
videotape.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- [1] Alison Black, et al. Keeping Viewers in the Picture: Real-World Usability
procedures in the Development of a Television Control Interface. Conference Companion.
Proceedings of CHI '94. ACM press, pp. 243-244.
- [2] Jane Fulton. User Trials for Information Graphics: Replacing Designers'
Assumptions with Feedback from Users. Information Design Journal. Vol. 7, Number 2 (1993),
pp. 99-104.
- [3] Bill Moggridge. Design for the Information Revolution. The Danish Design Center
Magazine. Number 4. 1992.
- [4] Peter Spreenberg. Editor. Interact. American Center for Design Journal. American
Center for Design. 1994.
