INTERACTION DESIGNINTERACTION DESIGN: DESIGN METHODOLOGY SEMINAR

Spring 2025

Instructors:

Dr Joëlle Bitton
joelle.bitton@zhdk.ch 

Prof. Jürgen Spath

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES 

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Each student is responsible to advance the collective knowledge of the class, by becoming an investigator and by discovering sources, case studies, and possible new methods as well. Students should also mentor each other in a peer-to-peer format.
During the overlap with the Interaction Design process courseyour studio courses, some of the methods reviewed will be put into practice. 

The course is a work-in-progress inviting experiments in pedagogy and in modulating theory and practice together. The field of Interaction Design is dynamic and thus calls for mixing foundation literature with new proposals, while keeping a critical perspective and staying open to shifts. As we progress in uncovering the topics of method class, we also put a strong emphasis on developing essential skills: reading, writing and reflecting, researching, including diverse sources, evaluating data, identifying assumptions and biases, presenting arguments, mediating discussions, sharing knowledge and owning your voice.
*The syllabus for this year's class was elaborated following a workshop in January 2023 where 5 alumni were invited to reflect on the past learnings and on renewed possibilities: Claudia Buck, Edna Hirsbrunner, Fabian Frey, Marcial Koch and Carlo Natter.

COURSE OUTLINE 

Class sessions are designed as a workshop usually on Mondays from 09.30-11.30, except the 1st session and when different day/times are specifically mentioned. The workshops sessions, led by students, will start in week 2 of the course and continuing for the rest of the semester. Two , presenting arguments, mediating discussions, sharing knowledge and owning your voice.

COURSE OUTLINE 

See calendar for when the course takes place. From week 2, two students are responsible for one workshop session around a topic, where they present literature, case studies, mediate discussion and activity. See topics below. 

Note that sessions may take place either on-site (at ZHdK), offsite (outside ZHdK) or online - but hybrid sessions session (both online and on-site at the same time) are not possible, unless they were specifically designed for that format. 
 *Please be mindful of commuting time according to your classmates' and your teachers' schedule. We may also have to change location plans due to various circumstances.and online) are not possible. 

EXPECTATIONS, GRADING

In pair, students provide support and reflection for each other during the semester.
At the end of the course, the student grade themselves with a short written summary and reasoning included.  *Teachers may modulate the grade with their own evaluations.

Following criteria for the final grading:

Exposé & Workshop Activity 30% 

Handout /essay 30%

Participation in discussions 20% 

Blog 20%

Regular attendance is required (80%). Absences have to be excused (medical notes, etc). Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade. 

DELIVERABLES

EACH SESSION

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1-TIME DELIVERABLE:

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• 25-minutes Workshop facilitation: Propose together 1 short exercise where a method related to the topic is applied + propose 1 or 2 questions for the class to discuss, and mediate the discussion. 
• Each student present in 4mn a short vignette on one angle of the topic that is done through research. Readings provided help but the student needs to deepen research further with additional essays. Presentations complement each other and offer different angles on the topic. Possible formats are live sketching, classic slides presentation, other. You support your argument and critical view on the topic with the literature & case studies. Each presentation should provoke questions, inspire ideas.
• Leave time for the teacher to add remarks 
• Be mindful to keep the time!

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Blog 20%

Regular attendance is required (80%). Absences have to be excused (medical notes, etc). Arriving late on more than one occasion will also affect the grade.

Any assignment that remains unfulfilled receives a failing grade. 

DELIVERABLES

EACH SESSION

• BLOG FEATURING:
  • READINGS & RESPONSE NOTES
    For everyone, there are several mandatory readings per session and response notes are expected for each paper and have to be uploaded on the blog (see below)by the prior Sunday evening. 
    Students are expected to discuss and comment in class based on the readings they have done prior to the class (they can be randomly called to share their perspectives).
    A reading guideline is provided to support the reading process: identify author(s), research location/institution, country, background, date, writing style, publication, context, sources, possible biases; identify words and concepts that are not familiar to you; identify questions that are emerging. See additional tips for reading academic papers by researcher Mike Ananny.
    Texts vary in length every week, this is considered part of the learning process in this class to go through a reading and gather essential ideas in a limited time.
    
    
  • Reflective notes on class discussions/learnings
    A separate 'reflective journal' is developed by each student to share learnings from the seminar. It should be in the form of an online blog/vlog/podcast (ie. WordPress, Notion, Medium, TikTok, Insta or other) to share with the public your discoveries, findings, reflections, etc. The journal should be structured in a generally comprehensible manner
    
    

1-TIME PRESENTATION & ACTIVITY:

Two assigned students each prepares a 8 minute-exposé on the topic on the week, coming from two distinct angles, and with arguments from the selected texts as well as 3-4 additional sources that they will research themselves. The additional sources should include academic references, from various genders, and from various countries / cultures. Case studies should be presented as well. Each exposé should provoke questions, inspire ideas.

The week before the presentations, students send instructors a 1 - 2-pages written discussion (handout), by the Wednesday 14.00, prior to the class to get enough time for feedback and possible changes. The paper should include title, author, date, context, summary, bibliography.

Additionally, the students presenting have to engage the class actively with a short exercise/task and mediate a discussion with 1 main question.

The structure of the class should include:

• 2 x 8 minutes exposés 
• 15-minutes short exercise/activity where a method related to the topic is applied 
• 1 or 2 questions for the class to discuss 
• Larger discussion, feedback and perspectives from the tutor 
• a 5mn break

COURSE MATERIALS 

Readings are made available in the shared IAD server.

CALENDAR

Week 1 - 1817.03.24 25 - 9.0030-11.00 30 -  Design/Undesign: Perspectives and biases (jb)

Historical outline and introduction of design method theories, highlighting the notion of design, technology and human experience, as well as understanding who designs design.

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Additional references on the topic:

Carroll, J. M. (2000). "Making Use: Scenario-­Based Design of Human­Computer Interactions". The MIT Press. “the Process”

Dubberly, H. ­(2004). "How do you design?" Dubberly Design Office.

Kolko, J. (2011). "Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis". (Oxford Series in Human­Technology Interaction) (1 ed.). Oxford University Press, USA.

Sanders, E. (2013). "Perspectives on Participation in Design". Transcript Verlag.

Week 2 - 25.03.24 - 9.30-11.30 - Observations & Experiences (jb)

At the heart of the design is the human experience: how to keep track of it?

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Lecture : “Perspectives of Interaction Design”
Case studies of design moments in history, how technology and design intertwine, as well as understanding who designs design.

Readings: 

Additional references on the topic:

Carroll, J. M. (2000). "Making Use: Scenario-­Based Design of Human­Computer Interactions". The MIT Press. “the Process”

Dubberly, H. ­(2004). "How do you design?" Dubberly Design Office.

Kolko, J. (2011). "Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioner’s Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis". (Oxford Series in Human­Technology Interaction) (1 ed.). Oxford University Press, USA.

Sanders, E. (2013). "Perspectives on Participation in Design". Transcript Verlag.

Week 2 - 24.03.24 - 13.00-14.30 - Observations & Experiences (jb)

In design fields, observations are at the center point of delving into projects: observations of our surroundings, of everyday life, of specific settings, of non-human perspectives, in the field & specific public spaces, in private spaces, in media, on social networks, in conversations, etc...  Observations lead us to approach user experiences and to create around them. 

• Students: 

Readings

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Additional references on the topic:

Buchenau, M. & Fulton Suri, J. 2000. “Experience Prototyping”. In Proceeding of DIS ’00.

Merholz, P., Wilkens, T., Schauer, B., & Verba, D. (2008). Subject To Change:
Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World: Adaptive Path on Design. O’Reilly Media, Inc. (Chapter 1 + 5) 

Horst, Heather. 2011. Free, Social, and Inclusive: Appropriation and Resistance of New Media Technologies in Brazil. In International Journal of Communication. 5. 437–462.  

Kaye, Joseph, Levitt, M. K., Nevins, J., Golden, J. & Schmidt, V. “Communicating Intimacy One Bit at a Time”. In Proceedings of CHI ‘05. 

Week 3 - 0231.0403.24 25 - 913.3000-1114.30 - Prototyping concepts, prototyping everything (jb)

The prototype is the actuation of an idea, its evaluation, its dissemination, its validation all at once? Where does the prototype stop?

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• Students: 

Readings

Montgomery, Will. 2013. “Machines for Living”. In Wire. 243. 28-35.

Houde, S., and Hill, C. 1997. "What Do Prototypes Prototype?", in Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction (2nd Ed.), M. Helander, T. Landauer, and P. Prabhu (eds.): Elsevier Science B. V: Amsterdam.

Schleicher D. & al. 2010. Bodystorming as Embodied Designing. Interactions.

Additional references on the topic:

O’Sullivan, D. & Igoe, T. 2003. Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers. Premier Press..

Youn­Kyung, L., Erik, S., & Josh, T. 2008. The anatomy of prototypes: Prototypes as filters, prototypes as manifestations of design ideas. In ACM Trans. Comput.­Hum.Interact. 15(2). 1–27. 

Ehn, P., & Kyng, M. 1991. Cardboard computers: Mocking-­it-­up or hands­-on the future. In Design at Work: Cooperative Design of Computer Systems. 169–195. 

Bolchini, D., Pulido, D., & Faiola, A. 2009. “ “Paper in screen” prototyping: an agile technique to anticipate the mobile experience”. In Interactions. 16(4). 29–33. 

Week 4 - 08.04.24 - 9.30-11.30 - The necessity of Pop Culture  (jb)

Why do we document, why do we practice pitching, selling ideas? How do we share and disseminate a design? What are the critical challenging points of using storytelling as a form of evaluating a concept?

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Week 4 - 07.04.25 - 13.00-14.30 - Pop Culture & Storytelling  (jb)

Stories and narratives surround us, influence us via fictions, movies, pop culture, games, advertising, marketing, scams, propaganda, etc... In interaction design, we often use storytelling to demo a concept and disseminate a project, it is also used as forms of prototyping and of evaluation. It can also be used to sell a project, to highlight its qualities, to hide its flaws...  How do we use stereotypes to tell stories? How does pop culture narratives influence design and vice-versa? 

• Students: 

Readings

Auger, James. 2012. “Demo or die: Overcoming oddness through aesthetic experience”. In Why Robot? Speculative Design, the domestication of technology and the considered future. PhD Thesis. RCA, London. 

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Lindström, K., Ståhl, Å. 2020. Un/Making in the Aftermath of Design. In: Proceedings of the 16th Participatory Design Conference.

Tsaknaki, Vasiliki & Fernaeus, Y. 2016. “Expanding on Wabi-Sabi as a Design Resource in HCI”. In Proceedings of CHI ‘16. 

Additional references on the topic:

Brown, D. M. (2010). “Competitive Reviews” In Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning. 254­-263. Berkeley: New Riders. 

Quesenberry, W. & Brooks, K. 2010. “Why Stories?”. In Storytelling for User experience. Rosenfeld Media. 

Loch, Christopher. 2003. Moving Your Idea Through Your Organisation. In Laurel, Brenda (ed.). Design Research. Methods and Perspectives. 

Week 5 - 1514.04.24 25 - 9.30-11.30 - What's the Outcome? Outcomes and Findings, Evaluating with participants participants (jb)

What does it mean to evaluate an interaction design work, what are the tools, how is a project fitting its intentions? Is evaluation even necessary in the context of design?

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How do gather findings from a process?

• Students: 

Readings

Bardzell, J., Bolter, J., & Löwgren, J. 2010. “Interaction criticism: three readings of an interaction design, and what they get us”. In Interactions. 17:2. 32–37. 

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Additional references on the topic:

Nørgaard, M., & Hornbæk, K. 2006. “What do usability evaluators do in practice?: an explorative study of think ­aloud testing”. In Proceedings of DIS ‘06.

Preece, J., Rogers, Y., & Sharp, H. 2002. “Introducing Evaluation”. In Interaction Design. Wiley.

Sengers, P., & Gaver, B. 2006. “Staying open to interpretation: engaging multiple meanings in design and evaluation”.  In Proceedings of DIS ‘06.

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Week 6 - 06.05.24 For who and what do we design? Do we design for anyone? (mn)

Design takes place everyday, it is inspired by popular culture and in turn inspires stories and the collective imagination. What power does design have? What kind of responsibility do designers have? What futures do we want to create? 

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• Students: 

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Readings:

Samochowiec, J. (2020). "Future Skills: Four scenarios for the world of tomorrow". GDI Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute. 

Bell, Genevieve, Blythe, M. & Sengers, P. (2005). “Making by Making Strange: Defamiliarization and the Design of Domestic Technologies”. In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction. 12. 149-173.

Kelley, T. (2001). "The Art Of Innovation: Lessons In Creativity From IDEO, America’s Leading Design Firm". Crown Business. 23-52.

Franzini, L., Herzog, R., Rutz, S., Ryser, F., Ziltener, K., Zwicky, P. (2021). “Postwachstum? Aktuelle Auseinandersetzungen um einen grundlegenden gesellschaftlichen Wandel". edition 8.
chapter ["Die Postwachtumsökonomie als plünderungsfreier Zukunftsentwurf, Paech, N., page 73-82]
chapter ["Von der imperialen zur konvivialen Technik", Vetter, A., page 159-167]

Week 7 - 13.05.24 Human-Computer Interaction and methods (mn)

Interaction Design and the field of HCI research are intertwined. Desk-based research, cultural probes, participatory design, ethnographic video, etc… terms that are at the heart of methodologies.

Workshop Facilitator: Iris Prelorentzou & Lola Renner
• Students: 
  

Readings:

Gaver, B., Dunne, T., Pacenti, E. (1999). “Design: Cultural probes”. In Interactions, 6(1), 21-­29. 

Oulasvirta, A., Kurvinen, E., & Kankainen, T. (2003). “Understanding contexts by being there: case studies in bodystorming". In Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 7(2), 125­-134. 

Buur, J., Fraser, E., Oinonen, S., & Rolfstam, M. (2010). “Ethnographic video as design specs”. In Proceedings of SIGCHI Australia’ 10.

Danzico, L. (2010). “From Davis to David: Lessons from Improvisation”. In Interactions.

Week 08 - 27.05.24  Data and visual abstractions (mn) 

Diagrams, sketching, mind mapping, working with data, visualising information: this is the work of explaining to your audience, from clients, to customers, to collaborators, the essence of an argument.

 Workshop Facilitators: Noel Kampus & Joel Staub
• Students: 
  

Readings

Buxton, B. (2007). "Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design". Morgan Kaufmann. 76-81.

Eggers, W. D., Hamill R., Ali A. (2013). “Data as the new currency. Government’s role in facilitating the exchange”. In Deloitte Review. 13. 18-31. 

Pavliscak, P. (2015). "Data-Informed Product Design". O’Reilly. 

Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., Preece, J. (2002). “Identifying Needs and establishing Requirements”. In Interaction Design: Beyond Human­ Computer Interaction. John Wiley & Sons. 201-­211. 

Week 09 - 03.06.24 Design Fiction, Speculative Design, Artistic research (mn)

Where design and art collide: what is your design standing for? How do we reboot the design field?

Workshop Facilitator: Elena Fabrikant & Elena Frei
• Students: 
  

Readings

Auger, James. 2012. “Speculative design: The products that technology could become”. In Why Robot? Speculative Design, the domestication of technology and the considered future. PhD Thesis. RCA, London. 

Wakkary, Ron & Odom, William & Hauser, Sabrina & Hertz, Garnet & Lin, Henry. 2016. A short guide to material speculation: Actual artifacts for critical inquiry. interactions. 23. 44-48. 

Dunne, Anthony and Raby, F. 2001. Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects. August / Birkhäuser. 

Kakalios, James. 2005. The Physics of Superheroes. The Gotham Books Publishing Group. 

Week 10 - 10.06.24 Teach or Why Were You Here? (mn)

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Moriwaki, K., Brucker-Cohen, J. (2006). “Lessons from the scrapyard: creative uses of found materials within a workshop setting”. In AI & Society. 20:4. 506-525. 

JOURNALS/BLOGS LINKS

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