Bill Verplank – Interactive Design

Interactive design is the process of designing something that someone personally works with to accomplish a task. Thinking about the human need and emotional reaction related to the task is the best way to implement interactive design. Bill Verplank explains this process through three questions: “How do you do?” “How do you feel?” and “How do you know?” By answering these questions one can understand the human need and reaction to a given product or process.

Verplank also discusses Design Paradigms. A paradigm is an example that serves as a pattern for the way that people think about something. There are many different paradigms related to design such as intelligence, tool, media, life, vehicle, and fashion. Each paradigm offers a different way of solving a design problem or implementing a design idea. According to Verplank’s outline the process of interaction design has four steps. The first is “Motivation,” which can come from a problem that one sees or an idea. The second is “Meaning,” which can come from a metaphor connecting two things or a scenario in which one understands the context of who is using the product. The third is  “Modes,” which relates to how one can move from one mode to another and then defines the tasks it takes to do this. The last is “Mapping,” in which you design a display and controls for the process.

This four-step process can help define and understand the problem wayfinding presents. By using Verplank’s process a target paradigm can be defined and therefore the solution can be focused. His guidelines can also help assess the problem the particular pathway presents and create and appropriate solution.