Interview (mp3, 24:48, 23.25MB, Nov 2006)
Namahn explores the full range of design questions in this thought-provoking interview with Professor Eric Stolterman of Indiana University's Department of Informatics. A renowned authority on design theory and practice, Stolterman is author of the book Thoughtful Interaction Design.
Every design field is unique, says Stolterman, because you work with different materials. In the case of HCI, you're working with digital material, which creates specific conditions for the way the design process is carried out and the way it works. But he's quick to point out that other disciplines can inspire interaction designers; architecture, product design, industrial design, landscape design and even urban design are all important influences on HCI today. Is design a science? No, insists Stolterman, who admits that there's a strong attempt to push it in that direction. People look for the elements of surprise, creativity and innovation in design and the more it becomes deterministic the less it's going to produce that outcome.
As a Swede living and working in America, Stolterman sees a big difference between the European way of doing research and the American. In Europe, research is more collaborative, with companies working closely with researchers on new technologies. Except for places like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), this is rare in America and it affects the way the field moves forward. Stolterman also discusses how HCI is evolving in the United States, which is much more towards design and a closer relationship with other design fields. His advice to young computer interaction designers is to start thinking as a designer. This means critiquing the world around you from a design perspective as a way of building your own judgment of good design. The process of making your design thinking explicit will help you develop your design skills.