October 3 2024 – Niels Floor |
Interaction design is a discipline that is foundational to learning experience design. However, it is often overlooked. And that’s a shame, because I see IxD skills as essential for designing great learning experiences. In fact, both fields have a lot in common.
“Interaction design (IxD) is the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services.” (Wikipedia)
When you look at the definition of IxD on Wikipedia, it’s easy to spot how this field is relevant for the world of learning. Today’s learner uses all kinds of digital products, environments, systems and services to reach their goals. IxD makes sure they are well designed which greatly improves the overall (learning) experience.
The need for good interaction design in the field of learning is evident. However, in this article I want to look at how IxD and learning experience design (LXD) are related. As you will see, IxD is possibly the most foundational of all the design disciplines that are part of LXD.
Design approach
Let’s take a look at the approach of an interaction designer and how this relates to the approach of a learning experience designer. According to Dan Saffer, author of “Designing for interaction” these are common approaches interaction designers use:
Focusing on users: They are advocates of the end user and care about the achieving their goals.
Finding alternatives: Designing isn’t about choosing from different options; it’s about creating new options.
Using ideation and prototyping: The creative process, which includes brainstorming, leads to possible solutions that are prototyped and tested.
Collaborating and addressing constraints: Interaction design involves the user in the design process and aims to deliver optimal results within the constraints you are faced with.
Creating appropriate solutions: The solution should uniquely solve a specific problem and can’t simply be copied for another context.
How does it compare?
Now, let’s relate these approaches to those of a learning experience designer:
Focusing on learners: LXD is a human centered design discipline. This means we focus on the learner, their experience and their goals.
Finding alternatives: LX designers are generally hired when a standard solution just doesn’t cut it. Finding alternative solutions is part of the LXD skillset.
Using ideation and prototyping: Learning isn’t a predictable process that can be controlled from start to end. That’s why testing your ideas with prototypes is essential to figure out if your design works well.
Collaborating and addressing constraints: When you are dealing with different stakeholders like students, teachers, subject matter experts, clients and investors, collaboration is key. Understanding and aligning the different needs, perspectives and constraints enables you to design a learning experience that keeps everybody happy.
Creating appropriate solutions: Each learning experience you design is created for a different group of learners with different goals in different circumstances. No two situations are the same and they require appropriate solutions. There is no one size fits all solution!
As you can see, IxD and LXD have approaches that are quite similar. With a couple of slight adaptations, the approach interactions designers use work perfectly for learning experience designers.
Of course, there is a difference in the application of this approach. Designing for a user or designing for a learner are not the same. As explained in my article “Learning experience design vs user experience design” learners and users have different goals, operate in different circumstances and require different designs. The main take-away is that the approaches are nearly identical even though the application has differences.
Design characteristics
Let me add another perspective on IxD from Jonas Löwgren at the Interaction Design Foundation. Jonas came up with five characteristics of IxD. What I love about these five characteristics is how they provide a deeper insight into what IxD has to offer for LXD. That’s why I’ve taken these characteristics and applied them to LXD:
Design involves changing situations by shaping and deploying artefacts.
On a fundamental level, learning is about changing situations. It’s about who you were before you entered a learning experience and who you are afterwards. The change in situation represents what you’ve learned and how this impacts you. Artefacts, like a website, app, or system can play a vital role in that process.
Löwgren states: “design is about transformation” and change is initiated by a designed artefact. When you design an app for learning a foreign language or a learning management system for corporate learning, interaction design is indispensable. But the same principles apply to other artefacts like books or games. The principle remains the same, you use artefacts that enable transformation and help learners reach their goals.
The types of artefacts that you design in IxD and LXD can vary. Not just in their form, but also in their function. IxD is generally limited to digital artefacts, while LXD also uses physical artefacts like board games, puzzles or teaching aids in their designs. Both fields are suited to design an app, but a shopping app has different requirements than a learning app.
Design is about exploring possible futures.
The world of learning generally has an analytical scientific approach to solving problems. LXD is not a science, it’s a design discipline. Designers use creativity and experimentation to solve those problems. Löwgren says: “Analytical and critical studies focus on that which exists, whereas design concerns itself with that which could be.”
LXD is all about designing for what could be. This means being open minded towards what’s possible or even what might seem impossible. “What’s going to happen if I do this?” or “What if we try that?” These are key questions for interaction designers and LX designers alike.
By pushing the boundaries of how we learn and by exploring different pathways we can create truly memorable learning experiences.
Design entails framing the “problem” in parallel with creating possible “solutions”.
I love the concept of research through design. This is when you are working on a solution by creating a design that is simultaneously helping you clarify the problem you are trying to solve.
Defining the problem that you are trying to solve is not always as easy as it seems. For example, a client might say they want to offer communication training for their employees. As you start to dig deeper and start working on solutions you might learn that there are underlying conflicts that the client wants to solve. In the end, communication training might not be the answer, but a learning experience about psychological safety might be.
A key difference between IxD and LXD is the type of problems that you are trying to solve. An IxD problem revolves around fulfilling the needs of a user, like booking a vacation, while LXD supports learners in their personal or professional development. Each have their own problems to solve and obstacles to overcome.
Design involves thinking through sketching and other tangible representations.
It takes more than words to create a design. You want to be able to make your designs visible and tangible. From your first idea to a final design, every step needs to take shape in one way or another. Sketching is the quickest and most effective way to communicate your ideas and designs in an engaging and effective way.
Making an experience tangible, whether it’s a user experience or a learning experience, is essential for a successful design. That’s why creating wireframes, mock-ups and prototypes is just as valuable for IxD as it is for LXD.
Design addresses instrumental, technical, aesthetical and ethical aspects throughout.
A strong design looks and feels as good as it works. To achieve that, you have to balance the instrumental, technical, aesthetical and ethical aspects of your design. Often, there are trade offs. For example, more functionality can clutter the aesthetical qualities of your design. Traditionally, there is a tendency to focus on instrumental and technical aspects to ensure you offer all the desired features and everything functions. Löwgren mentions: “For an interaction designer, users are whole people with complex sensibilities and design processes need to be conducted accordingly.”
Much of this applies to LXD where balancing different aspects is just as important to do justice to the people you design for and the goals they want to achieve. For example, clients can keep adding content, which can make the design less effective and appealing. One thing I’d like to add to this list is experiential aspects. This concerns the overall quality of the experience and the emotional involvement of the learner.
Conclusion
Designing a digital product or service is not the same as designing a learning experience. At the same time, IxD is such an important part of LXD and it has a lot to offer to the world of learning. How you solve problems, generating and visualising original ideas, the ability to create designs that work well on all levels and having an outsider’s perspective are great attributes for LXD.
Going from being an interaction designer to learning experience designer is a relatively small step. The approaches are quite similar and when IxD is combined with the right learning strategies you ready to change the lives of learners.
To learn more about interaction design, visit the Interaction Design Foundation and to dig deeper into learning experience design visit LXD.org.
Starting January 20, 2025 you can learn the LXD fundamentals online in only 4 weeks. More information on this course and to reserve your spot, go here!
Side note:
Wikipedia’s definition of interaction design falls short for me on one aspect as it limits the field to digital products, systems, and services. When I studied interaction design, not everything we designed was digital. For example, we created mixed media designs with print, digital and gaming or interactive installations using physical objects, sound, and spatial design. That’s helped me tremendously in designing all sorts of learning experiences.