lynette design

Thoughtful interaction design - Lowgren and Stolterman

I want to take on board the ideas of the reading about being a thoughtful designer in the way I think about all aspects of the interaction that I am designing. I need to think about that I am constructing knowledge when I design.

As a designer my task, as Lowgren and Stolterman say, is to develop something of lasting quality in the most suitable and creative way for the given situation. I need to challenge existing conceptions and restrictions that are based on false assumptions. I want to be able to really learn to critically think about the assumptions that I come to a design problem with. I want to be able to try to define what needs doing, and not define just my pre-concieved ideas about what I should do, but come fresh to the possibilities available.

I think it is important to remember like they said that design is in a cultural context, the choices you make are cultural. Often cultural decisions and ideas will be invisible to yourself as a designer, but it is helpful to try to see even the invisible ideological context that you are desinging in. If you can see the things that you assume as natural common knowledge, maybe you can realise that it is not so natural and common knowledge, but cultural context. This is helpful to think of cultural context of myself and my audience, and make more concious decisions.

The limited time, skills and resources in this project are as they say in this reading not really just limitations, but they are just part of the considerations that I need to take into accout as I am designing anything. So often it is tempting to think - if only I had more time, or knew more about flash. But really these are part of the design problem, and finding the best solution involves learning what I can, thinking of creative ways to learn what I need to know, and how to achieve what I want to achieve with my skills and time available.

posted by nicole @ 6:06 pm