Transforming interaction design

In a continuously changing society and product development industry with expectations of sustainability and new collaborations, what will the future role of interaction design be? What tools do designers need and what is design’s mandate in industrial organisations? These were some of the topics buzzing.

Changing your hammer (again)

Tom Djajadiningrat opened the seminar with a keynote speech  based on his article on four paradigmatic changes within interaction design. Through various examples from his experience at Philips Design, he demonstrated that the industry sometimes can lose touch with its consumers. For representatives from large Danish businesses, he raised the question of how one can design products for users of the modern era, while keeping a   focus on ethically and sustainably produced goods. Djajadiningrat’s keynote raised some challenging questions that invited the organisational leaders and designers for a discussion on the changing conditions of working with interaction design in industry.

Down the UX-river and ripples of changes

The leaders’ discussion circled around digitalization as a driver of change in industry. These changes were mapped as ripples causing a need for new competences, alliances and priorities. It was agreed that designers now have a chair at management’s table but there is still work to do on stating the importance of getting out and interact with end-users.

The access to and importance of users was also central at the practitioners’ table. How do we make user input matter and make it a priority to management? The practitioners mapped the UX-river explaining how bridging to other professionals in a common language can make a hand over flow and prevent going to UX-hell.

Next step

The seminar was the starting point for a benchlearning project, where best practice examples are shared between the involved organisations. In the coming while, the SDU research team will be conducting focus group interviews at each of the organisations, in order to gain insight into their particular design practices. The gained knowledge will provide a base for   improving the Master of IT course called Interactive Physical Products which is offered in the Spring semester of 2020.