C O N C E P T U A L I Z I N G

I N T E R A C T I O N

GROUP 2
 CONTENTS
• Conceptual Models
• Interface Metaphors
• Interaction Types
• Paradigms, Vision, Theories, Models,
and Frameworks

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Introduction
 When coming up with new ideas as part of a
design project, it is important to conceptualize
them in terms of what the proposed product will
do.
 This is referred to as creating a proof of concept.
 It can be viewed as an initial pass to help define
the area and also when exploring solutions.

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 The benefits of conceptualizing the design space in this way are as follows:

Orientation Enabling the design team to ask specific kinds of questions about how
the conceptual model will be understood by the targeted users.

Open-Mindedness Allowing the team to explore a range of different ideas to address

the problems identified.

Common Ground Allowing the design team to establish a set of common terms that
all can understand and agree upon, reducing the chance of misunderstandings and
confusion arising later

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 C O N C E P T U A L
M O D E L S
 A model is a simplified
description of a system or
process that helps describe how
it works.

J e f f Johnson and Austin

Henderson (2002) define a
conceptual model as “a high-level
description of how a system is
organized and operates” (p. 26).
 In a nutshell, a conceptual model provides a working strategy and a framework of general
concepts and their interrelations. The core components are as follows:

• Metaphors and analogies that convey to people how to understand what a product is used
for and how to use it for an activity (for example browsing and bookmarking).

• The concepts to which people are exposed through the product, including the task-domain
objects they create and manipulate, their attributes, and the operations that can be
performed on them (such as saving, revisiting, and organizing).

• The relationships between those concepts (for instance, whether one object contains
another). 3.3 Conceptual Models 75

• The mappings between the concepts and the user experience the product is designed to
support or invoke (for example, one can revisit a page through looking at a list of visited
sites, most-frequently visited, or saved websites).

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 Another term that is sometimes used is a design concept. Essentially, it is a set of ideas for a
design. Typically, it is composed of scenarios, images, mood boards, or text-based documents.

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 The Star interface, developed by Xerox in 1981 (see Figure 3.4), revolutionized the way that
interfaces were designed for personal computing (Smith et  al., 1982; Miller and Johnson, 1996)
and is viewed as the forerunner of today’s Mac and Windows desktop interfaces. New concepts
that were incorporated as part of the desktop metaphor were operations that could not be
performed in the physical world. For example, digital files could be placed onto an icon of a printer
on the desktop, resulting in the computer printing them out.

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  M o r e s p e c i f i c a l l y,
an Interface
I N T E R F A C E Metaphor is one
M E T A P H O R S that is instantiated
 Metaphors are in some way as part
considered to be a
central component of a
of the user
conceptual model. interface, such as
 They provide a structure the desktop
that is similar in some
way to aspects of a
m e t a p h o r.
familiar entity (or
entities), but they also
have their own behaviors
and properties.
In the context of the smartphone interface, the Google Now card provides short snippets of useful
information. This appears on and moves across the screen in the way people would expect a real card to do—
in a lightweight, paper-based sort of way. The elements are also structured to appear as if they were on a
card of a fixed size, rather than, say, in a scrolling web page.

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Why Are Metaphors So Popular?
 People frequently use metaphors and analogies as a source of
inspiration for understanding and explaining to others what they are
doing, or trying to do, in terms that are familiar to them. They are
an integral part of human language (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980).

Metaphors and analogies are used in these three main ways :

 As a way of conceptualizing what we are doing.

 As a conceptual model instantiated at the interface level.
 As a way of visualizing an operation.

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  O r i g i n a l l y, w e i d e n t i f i e d
four main types:
Instructing, Conversing,
Manipulating, and
I N T E R A C T I O N Exploring.
T Y P E S
 Interaction types is another  A fifth type has since
way of conceptualizing the been proposed by
design space that will Christopher Lueg et al.
underlie the user experience. (2019) that we have added
E s s e n t i a l l y, t h e s e a r e t h e
ways a person interacts with to ours, which they call
a product or application. Responding.
• INSTRUCTING - Where users issue instructions to a system. This can be done in a number of ways,
including typing in commands, selecting options from menus in a windows environment or on a
multitouch screen, speaking aloud commands, gesturing, pressing buttons, or using a combination of
function keys.

• CONVERSING - Where users have a dialog with a system. Users can speak via an interface or type in
questions to which the system replies via text or speech output.

• MANIPULATING - Where users interact with objects in a virtual or physical space by manipulating
them (for instance, opening, holding, closing, and placing). Users can hone their familiar knowledge
of how to interact with objects.

• EXPLORING - Where users move through a virtual environment or a physical space. Virtual
environments include 3D worlds and augmented and virtual reality systems. They enable users to
hone their familiar knowledge by physically moving around. Physical spaces that use sensor-based
technologies include smart rooms and ambient environments, also enabling people to capitalize on
familiarity.

• RESPONDING - Where the system initiates the interaction and the user chooses whether to respond.
For example, proactive mobile location-based technology can alert people to points of interest. They
can choose to look at the information popping up on their phone or ignore it.
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INSTRUCTING

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CONVERSING

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 The three core principles of direct manipulating are as follows:

• Continuous representation of the objects and actions of interest.

• Rapid reversible incremental actions with immediate feedback about the object of interest.
• Physical actions and button pressing instead of issuing commands with complex syntax.

The benefits of direct manipulation include the following:

• Helping beginners learn basic functionality rapidly

• Enabling experienced users to work rapidly on a wide range of tasks
• Allowing infrequent users to remember how to carry out operations over time
• Preventing the need for error messages, except rarely
• Showing users immediately how their actions are furthering their goals
• Reducing users’ experiences of anxiety
• Helping users gain confidence and mastery and feel in control

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EXPLORING

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RESPONDING

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 Paradigms, Visions,
Theories, Models, and
Frameworks
 Other sources of
conceptual inspiration
and knowledge that are
used to inform design
and guide research.

 They vary in terms of

their scale and
specificity to a
particular problem
space.
A paradigm refers to a general approach that has been adopted by a
community of researchers and designers for carrying out their work in
terms of shared assumptions, concepts, values, and practices.

• The questions to be asked and how they should be framed.

• The phenomena to be observed.
• The way in which findings from studies are to be analyzed and
interpreted (Kuhn, 1972).

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A vision is a future scenario that frames research and development in
i n t e r a c t i o n d e s i g n — o ft e n d e p i c t e d i n t h e f o r m o f a f i l m o r a n a r r a t i v e .

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A theory is a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of a
phenomenon; for example, the theory of information processing that
explains how the mind, or some aspect of it, is assumed to work.

• One of the main benefits of applying such theories in interaction

d e s i g n i s t o h e l p i d e n t i f y f a c t o r s ( c o g n i t i v e , s o c i a l , a n d a ff e c t i v e )
relevant to the design and evaluation of interactive products.

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A model is a simplification of some aspect of human-computer
interaction intended to make it easier for designers to predict
and evaluate alternative designs

• The term model has also been used more generally in interaction
d e s i g n to d e sc r i b e , i n a s i m p l i f i e d wa y, s o me a s p e ct o f h u ma n
behavior or human-computer interaction.

• Ty p ica lly, i t de pi cts how the core feat ures a nd pro ce s s e s unde rlyi ng a
p h e n o m e n o n a r e s t r u c t u r e d a n d r e l a t e d t o o n e a n o t h e r. I t i s u s u a l l y
abstracted from a theory coming from a contributing discipline, like
ps y c ho l og y.

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A framework is a set of interrelated concepts and/or a set of specific
questions that are intended to inform a particular domain area (for
example, collaborative learning ), or an analytic method (for instance,
ethnographic studies).

• Numerous frameworks have been introduced in interaction design to

help designers constrain and scope the user experience for which they
are designing.
• I n c o n t r a s t t o a m o d e l , a f r a m e w o r k o ff e r s a d v i c e t o d e s i g n e r s a s t o
w h a t t o d e s i g n o r l o o k f o r.

• This can come in a variety of forms, including steps, questions,

concepts, challenges, principles, tactics, and dimensions.

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T h e f r a m e w o r k c o m p r i s e s t h r e e i n t e r a c t i n g c o m p o n e n t s : t h e d e s i g n e r,
t h e u s e r, a n d t h e s y s t e m . B e h i n d e a c h o f t h e s e a r e t h e f o l l o w i n g :

DESIGNER’S MODEL The model the designer has of how the system
should work.

SYSTEM IMAGE How the system actually wo rks, which is po rtrayed to

the user through the interface, manuals, help facilities, and so on.

USER’S MODEL How the user understands how the system works.

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THANK
YOU
PRESENTER:
GROUP 2

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