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Prototyping and testing is not interaction design. 1
It’s useful, but it doesn’t cover the ground. It helps, but it isn’t user centered. It’s designer centered. 2
Proto&Test has one huge virtue: It makes management happy because it never rocks the boat. It never requires big changes. 3
Proto&Test always keeps the designer in command. It’s very ego gratifying. 4
Proto&Test always yields some morsel for improvement, so everyone inside the building is a winner. 5
You can think of Proto&Test as institutionalized, professional, sanctioned "faster-horsing." 6
The toughest battle I’ve ever fought wasn’t against UX critics, but against the forces of Proto&Test. Sad to say, the battle continues. 7
When U put an artifact in front of a user, you instantly shut down an infinity of good ideas, avenues of thought, opportunities to create. 8
Interaction design—as I know it—isn’t practiced much in the field today. 9
IxD has largely been replaced by Proto&Test and/or Design Thinking, whatever that might be today. 10
Hey, I’m not knocking prototyping! I spent a decade prototyping stuff that changed the world. It’s good for invention. 11
But prototyping isn’t interaction design. 12
I’m a judge for a major design contest and I’m reviewing over 90 entries by top companies. Only a couple used IxD. 13
Prototype and Test is post-facto. It is not design, but rather refinement. It is not user centered, but rather artifact-centered. 14
We have suffered from title confusion. Most practitioners don’t call themselves “interaction designers,” and waddaya know, few do it. 15
Words are important. Titles and job descriptions have impact. 16
Putting an “experience designer” in an interaction designer’s role gets you…something else. 17
Sure, I sometimes call myself an “experience designer” because, like, I want to be cool. But I’m an interaction designer. 18
I’m an interaction designer because my work is about knowing the user, and finding ways to support the user. 19
Knowing your user isn’t hard, but it demands that you let go of your bright ideas first. That’s hard. And special. And rare. 20
I’m disappointed to see interaction design fading from the world. This thread reflects that. It’s a loss. 21
The pendulum swings between diversity and consolidation. We had diversity with IxD, now we have consolidation with Proto&Test. Safer. 22
Business always grows and flourishes in times of consolidation. Users always benefit in times of diversity. 23
Our field’s endless quest for a title is partly due to our widespread misunderstanding of what we do for a living. 24
We are the kind of people who want to make others happy. It’s easy to make your coworkers happy at the expense of the user. 25
It’s easy to make your boss happy at the expense of the user. 26
The best way to really piss off your boss is to tell them that the entire team is headed down the wrong track. 27
Interaction design is the discipline that can tell you if you are going down the wrong track. Proto&Test won’t. 28
In other words, interaction design can be the tool to piss off your boss. Damn. Some people find that good, others do Proto&Test. 29
Design thinking is a great tool for getting empathy from your boss. 30
Read Dan Ariely’s books. Framing. The smallest word or gesture can change the user’s response. 31
The data you gather from your Proto&Test is deeply compromised by its very existence. 32
Interaction designers need to study human cognition as hard as they study composition or color theory. Harder. 33
That’s why interaction design is a lot harder than UX. Because it asks bigger questions. 34
So, practitioners call IxD “product design,” or “service design” or “product strategy.” The word soup just drains away our effectiveness. 35
The word soup creates hidey holes for weak sticks. 36
To paraphrase a popular TV show, Backlash Is Coming. 37
