Technology, Information, Experience Design… Helping you get it.

I was lucky enough to attend the first SVA Summer Intensive in Interaction Design at SVA this past July and after the program completed the folks at SVA asked me contribute to a recap of the program.

Check out the post at http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/blog/entry/summing_up_the_summer_intensive/

Here’s the complete text of my recap:

I had been designing software and systems for almost ten years before I became aware of Interaction Design as a discipline. Like so many others, my life took a turn after an encounter with a polar bear. After I read Information Architecture for the World Wide Web in 2007 I realized that there were disciplines I hadn’t heard of that turned out to be what I most loved about the design work I had been doing. It was as if I had been designing in Plato’s cave and Lou’s and Peter’s book opened my eyes to a whole other world. I’ve spent the following two years reading and educating myself in the canon of UX. I joined the UX Book Club, IxDA, IAI, UPA, and dove into the community. My interest in the Summer Intensives was first to evaluate the possibility of attending the MFA program. At the same time I wanted to get a better handle on the landscape of the profession and see how my experience might translate to the way organizations like Frog, SmartDesign, and Local Projects worked. I also wanted to get to know other people who were interested in taking the Intensive and see what we had in common and how we were different.

I expected at the very least to take away some usable skills that would make me a better designer and to get a feel for the SVA IxD Program; the space, the staff, and the overall approach.
Each class in the intensive had its own attraction for me.

Elements of Communication Design

I have a particular interest in visual thinking and communication so working with Nick Felton for a month was an incredible treat. I have always been drawn to the artifacts of design, from architectural blueprints to machine assembly diagrams, flowcharts, wireframes and most recently visualization of data, processes and complex systems. Nick gave the class a quick primer in typography and grid design and followed that up with a couple of projects that opened the door to be creative and make beautiful works with specific communication goals. Not only was Nick a great source of guidance and inspiration as we worked through our projects but there was an exciting and enriching exchange between the students in the class. I know that my project improved dramatically after getting feedback from Nick and the rest of the class.

Practice of Interaction Design

Carla’s class gave me a peek into the process of interaction design and of how things work at a couple of companies I greatly admire (Frog and Smart) but it was much more than a peek. Albeit in an intensely compressed way, we were guided through the process and able to experience a few of the most exciting aspects of design for me; sketching, collaboration, iteration, and critique. Carla also touched on the many directions there are to go in this field and encouraged the class to find the areas we are passionate about and delve into them. For me Carla’s class demystified interaction design done “the right way” and made me realize that there are more possibilities than I knew about before the class

Practical Programming for Designers

I have been working very closely with developers for a long time. I can read and understand code but have rarely been responsible for creating it. My feelings about coding are similar to someone learning a new language. They’re often afraid to speak because they know their accent will be totally off, their grammar will probably be wrong, and they don’t have the vocabulary they need to express their ideas. A good designer needs to be able to communicate with developers. We need to speak their language. The best way to do that, as with speaking a new foreign language, is to just open up your mouth and start speaking. Ian gave the class a good introduction to the building blocks of all programming languages and showed us that it’s not that hard to dive in and start coding.

The thing that stuck with me most after completing the Intensives is that there’s a huge range of activities going on around interaction design. If you are passionate, creative, and dedicated to developing your craft you can contribute to creating beautiful experiences. Another realization that was reinforced through this experience is that the people involved with this program and this community are an encouraging and friendly group. There is a palpable excitement about the development and direction of this profession and the good that can come of it if we continue to keep empathy, collaboration, and continuous iterative improvement as core values in our design and the growth of our community.

I would recommend the SVA IxD Intensives for people new to the field who want a better idea of what directions there are to go, for specialists looking to get a feel for other areas of experience design, or for people who want to understand what the vast landscape of Interaction Design looks like today and help start down one of the myriad paths there are to tread.