[IxDA Discuss] interaction design & graphic design

[Kim Goodwin]

Hi, Simon.

I agree with Michael's comment that both disciplines need to work well
together for the design to work. I also agree that there are folks doing
interaction design who lack visual skills, but I have to say that all of
the best interaction designers I've ever worked with were at least
visually literate (just as the best visual interface designers are at
least interaction-literate). 

At Cooper, we *do* separate the roles for a few reasons:
 Pretty much everyone is better at one discipline than the other
 It's hard to be responsible for both aspects of the design (one
inevitably suffers, especially when you're on a deadline)
 There's a productive tension between the two--interaction design tends
to focus on the practical (what's the easiest way to get it done?)
whereas graphic design also adds an emotional aspect (and how should
that experience feel?)

Interaction designers have to be good at visualizing systems and
well-versed in usability and interaction design principles and patterns.
Visual interface designers are good at visually clarifying behavior
while communicating brand attributes, and well-versed in graphic and
information design.

As for the difference between "graphic design in general" (by which I
assume you mean primarily print) vs. graphic design for user interfaces,
I would first say that graphic design training in all of the usual
areas--typography, color, layout, line, shape, etc.--is an essential
foundation. However, visual interface design involves:

 More constraints (color to some extent, resolution to a great extent,
as well as various platform limitations)

 Greater emphasis on information design (wayfinding to an extent, but
especially the visual display of processes, status, and quantitative
data--emphasized in some graphic design schools but not others)

 More emphasis on behavior, less on style (some heavily branded Web
sites are still somewhat print-like in their emphasis on brand and
imagery, but applications are much more focused on affordances, clear
hierarchy, etc.)

 Content that changes state over time (whereas in graphic design, one
has to covey all the information at once, information in a UI can evolve
or can be revealed over time)

-----Original Message-----

Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 4:06 PM
To: Simon Asselbergs; discuss at ixda.org


Both sides of design need to fire strongly and together for the
application to work well. 
<snip>
I've worked with some fine interaction designers
who had essentially no sense of visual balance or any graphic design
training at all. 
<snip>

Michael Micheletti 
At the moment, a combo technical writer, interaction designer, and
graphic designer

-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of
Simon Asselbergs
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2006 11:53 PM
To: discuss at ixda.org
Subject: [IxDA Discuss] interaction design & graphic design

[Please voluntarily trim replies to include only relevant quoted
material.]

How would you explain the difference between graphic design in general
and graphic design related to designing user interfaces from a
interaction design point of view? How would you explain the importance
of the latter? Has anyone has experienced similar situations?
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