Should I be an interaction designer?

An interaction designer is someone who designs interactions.  What does that mean?

Interaction designers make sure that technology is easy to interact with and does what it’s supposed to do: for example, menus to turn features on and off or customize settings. The interaction designer makes everything as easy for the users as possible!

Interaction design is part of a larger career field known as user experience (UX) design. This term will often come up when you are doing your own research. Interaction designers will make sure that any time you're using technology (whether choosing a movie to stream or playing music on your phone) is easy and instinctual!

What's the difference between UX design and interaction design?

UX designers focus on the overall experience when users use a technological product: how things look, how things feel, how easy they are to use, and so on. Interaction designers focus on specifically one part of the experience: how the user interacts with the product.

Interaction designers handle many different tasks:

• Research who the product's users are and what they need.

• Design the features of the product — what will it do and how?

• Identify key interactions for the product. Everything should meet goals for both the business that makes it and the people who use it.

• Implement features, then create and test prototypes (make it and test it to see that it works right). 

• Check for accessibility — anyone should be able to use the product, and it should accommodate possible user disabilities.

• Collaborate with UX designers for the view of the product as a whole.

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

There’s a pretty wide need. Any corporation that uses technology that consumers need to work with on a regular basis needs someone to figure out how users will interact with that technology!  These can include:

• Technology companies such as ones that make electronics like computers, phones, and software

• Entertainment companies ones who make products like movies, TV shows, or even video game companies

• Web services such as online vendors, streaming services, and social media

• Car companies — someone needs to make sure that GPS is easy to use!

• You love design and creativity. You'll need to think about what will look the best and have the most logical layout.

• You love problem-solving. You'll need to figure out how to make everything as easy to use as possible, and continuously update to keep everything easy to use.

• You love collaborating with others. You need to stay consistent with how the UX designers want the features to work and what businesses want the technology to do. This is a job with lots of teamwork!

• You work better independently. This is a job where you constantly work with others and do things like compromise based on the needs of other stakeholders.

• You will constantly need to upskill. Technology is always changing to do more and make work easier. You need to know how to put new tools and features into the product.

• You do not like to edit and revise. You'll constantly revisit your work to make new, better versions that match new user needs.

Does it sound like interaction design could be a good path for you? If it does...