[IxDA Discuss] Interaction design is design of time

[Dan Saffer]

On Apr 4, 2006, at 9:49 PM, Jeff Howard wrote:

>> Dan Saffer said:
>> I wouldn't exactly say that it is the design of time, unless you  
>> are some sort
>> of divine entity. :)
>
> The book Einstein's Dreams offers some nice insight into how that  
> might work...

I haven't read the book (I didn't know it was part of the IxD cannon  
of literature :) ) but to me there are two aspects of time:

1) Actual time, which objectively goes by, second by second. Or in  
digital terms, millisecond by millisecond.

2) Experienced time, which is more flexible. Waiting in a line or  
being stuck in traffic can seem to take hours, although it may take  
minutes. A week-long holiday might seem to fly by in a day's time.

I can see experienced time by manipulated by interaction designers  
constantly: even a few milliseconds can make a big difference in how  
an application feels. Actual time, well, I'll leave that to Einstein  
to manipulate.

Dan