IxLab Final Project: Preparatory Research and Analysis
What is Interaction
The interaction contains many aspects and dimensions. According to “Art, Interaction and Engagement” by Ernest Edmonds, the interaction framework can be divided into four levels: Static, Dynamic-Passive, Dynamic-Interactive, and Dynamic-Interactive (Varying). These four levels have a progressive relationship of the interaction. In other words, they show the development procedure from static artworks to interactive ones. By analyzing the explanation of these levels, we can abstract the necessary element for an interactive artwork. From Static to Dynamic-Passive, the artwork adds variables that can make it react to the outer world. Then, when Dynamic-Passive evolves to the Dynamic-Interactive, the audiences are been taken into consideration as variables and can control the artwork visibly. Finally, the difference between Dynamic-Interactive and Dynamic-Interactive (Varying) is the time. The latter has “memories” (8 Edmonds) and can be influenced by time.
What makes a Successful Interaction
To create an interactive artwork that can be called successful, all the processes of the experience should be seriously taken into consideration and evaluated. After excepting the rubrics of the artwork itself, the designing process of the interaction is the thing that I want to discuss here.
Less is More
According to my observation and my experience on the midterm project, I found the fact that when there are too many interactive components, the user will usually don’t know where to get started. In this case, the fewer interaction component the more user can fully understand how to interact with the project on the first try. An example is the interactive project Still Life by Scott Garner.
Still Life by Scott Garner, 2012
This is an interactive installation. The objects in the frame can be controlled by the user and simulate the situation in the real world. In the project, the only way to interact with the installation is by tilting the frame which is easy for the audience to understand how to control the objects in the frame and interact with the project. Also, the project can be counted as a Dynamic-Interactive (Varying) project since the position and the direction of the objects completely depends on the accumulation of the interactions of many users.
Human-centered Interaction
Although many interactions are labeled and have instructions beside the button or the slider, the users sometimes will also feel confused. Good designs don’t need a manual. The fact told us the text can never save a silly interaction design. To make the user feel clear and comfortable to interact, we need to avoid the “Norman Doors”.
The iPhone is a great example of human-centered design. I believe most of us have experience using an iPhone or a smartphone. Although we’ve already gotten used to these interactions, we still can learn a lot from them. Trace back to 2007, the phones at that time are operating and interacting with the user by using the buttons. We need to read a long manual to learn how to use it. The iPhone never had a verbose manual, all the instructions have been embedded in the visual design like icons and interaction instructions like slide bars and materialized UI design. We do not need to read the text to figure out what is this button or function for, instead, we can predict from the design.
These examples also provide inspiration for my final projects. We can never let the user deal with all the variables which will make them confused. From my perspective, it’s better for us to limit the interaction component to 2-3 at most to make the user needn’t pay all their attention to how to interact and turn to think about the artistic connotation brought by our project.
The interaction should abandon the long instructions and follow the natural rules to let the users know how to interact with their former experience. We can pay more attention to the perspective of the users and figure out what kind of method we need to apply to let them have a better understanding of the interaction procedure. For instance, adjusting the values of a parameter, the slider is better than the buttons.
