Time to reflect...

There's something special about the way the snow dampens all sounds around you and simplifies the shapes and colors of a landscape. It has a dampening effect on your activities and paste in life as well. Everything seems to move a bit slower, and appear a bit more calm and thought through. For me the winter is a time of self reflection, a time to go over who you are and who you want to be. We step into our metal caves, meditating over the life that will flourish when the sun decides to come out and grant us some warmth and again fill us with energy. It's the time for our inner activity to be on top and as spring comes closer and slowly wakes us up and moves us around, it awakens our outer self. The part of us that acts upon the thoughts we pondered in our caves on winter hibernation.

The rule is there are no rules

At the moment we are carrying out a course concerning the usage of sound in interaction design. During this course I have been doing a large amount of mind mappings (which is now my favorite tool to structure my thoughts). While doing these I got several epiphanies regarding those main concerns you should always have in your mind while designing. These have drifted around in my mind since I've started my design education three years ago. Being built piece by piece, taking shape in the back of my mind but never really stayed still long enough for me to get a good look at them. I consider myself a spokes person for a structured design process. I believe that it is possible to find some milestones within this creative and often chaotic process that seem to always change for every project and never really fit. I always got the feeling that the process of the industrial design science has been set and that there are certain rules to follow. It is already decided about how to do carry out a project within the realm of industrial design. I never felt there was much room to explore and create my own methods. I guess that is the structure of a bachelor as well, making sure you got the basics. But I wonder if you miss important aspects of a projects specific context by following one preset path. Is there ever one true process? And If there is how general or defined is it?

One personal goal I have for my master studies is to really explore the design process for an interaction designer and try to create some milestones for myself. I want to see if it is possible to do a totally different process than I'm used to. Instead of putting the analyses itself in the center of the research phase, I want to put some specific questions or topic areas in the center and then look at how you in the best way possible can get the answers for them. For example, is it really important that you do a flowchart in a traditional sense? What is it we're truly interested in showing or analyzing? Could that be shown in a different way than an over flow of boxes and lines that is really not comprehensive for anyone else than yourself, unless they spend some time deciphering it.

This far I've come up with five big milestone that I believe to be true. These are:

HABITS – biggest obstacle when it comes to users. Either you accept them and work with them or give the user a strong enough reason to change them. If you ignore them, I believe your design will fail.

TRUTH – Always stay true to the information you want to give the user. If you can show the real info, instead of an icon or earcon replacing it, then you should. It will most likely give the user more correct information than any replacement of it. If you still wish to replace it, you better have a good reason.

CONTEXT – everything you do and all the conclusions you make need to be made within its right context. Other wise it looses its meaning. User behaviors are complex and should never be boiled down to an anonymous fact detached from its context.

CONTROL – Never control the user. Let the user be in control. The most annoying thing in the world is when a system of some sort starts to give you information you haven't asked for or preforming actions you didn't start yourself.

DURATION – The duration of both the usage of a product/system and the learning period must be in relation to each other. A system that you use often, like a computer interface for instance, can be allowed a longer learning period because the user might feel that the effort of learning it is justified because of the long and frequent usage. On the other hand, services that you will use once or twice in a life time have to be practically intuitive from first sight.

Since the field of interaction design is fairly new I get the feeling that it is still evolving and morphing, finding it's true form. To me this is a very exiting place to be. Taking part in the molding of interaction design. Getting the possibility to actually have an effect on which direction it will take. As a student I get the opportunity and time to explore this area and I want to take a big plunge into the depth of it. I want to find the answers to understanding users and their needs and behaviors. I've now created my first set of rules. But I believe there are no rules. This is the big challenge. Please, prove me wrong. Lets keep the momentum of questioning.

Why did I start this blogg?

An outlet for the thoughts that stick to your consciousness like an eager fly around your breakfast sandwich. The constant tapping on your shoulder from your inner genius (or fool) wanting you to understand that you have something to say that matter. The boomerang idea that keeps coming back asking to be let out to the world to do its job. The theories that continuously keep on morphing, trying to find its true shape to fit the complex puzzle we call life. Nothing ever stands still or stays the same. Right and wrong is an illusion by our subjective mind, created by our uniquely composed life experiences. If you manage to grasp just an inch of the answer to one of life's many question, you will see that it brings with it a hundred more. Keep the momentum of your search for answers and you might at the end of your existence in this profoundly complex labyrinth of experiences we call life, find one that is true.