Interaction Designer
I realized something lately that helped simplify what I have learned so far about my job as an Interaction Designer. In very general terms, my job is to verbalize, visualize and make decisions.
Verbalize means being able to communicate with other people as I try and understand problems and issues with my projects. Visualize means being able to design and prototype for others (and myself) to see and understand the solution. Doing it this way also allows me to get to the “real” thing as soon as possible. And most importantly, my job is to make decisions. Good or bad (hopefully, mostly good), I need to make decisions to move things forward and not stand still.
I love this quote from Christopher Alexander, which I got from the latest Getting Real workshop by 37signals:
“When a group of different people set out to try and find out what is harmonious...their opinions about it will tend to converge if they are mocking up full-scale, real stuff. Of course, if they’re making sketches or throwing out ideas, they won’t agree. But, if you start making the real thing, one tends to reach agreement.”