Learn how to ensure your team follows interaction design best practices and creates engaging and intuitive interfaces. This article covers the key steps and methods for effective interaction design collaboration and communication.

Iterations!... There is no unicorn designer who creates a perfect design in the first attempt. Many first attempts are great, however, at least 3 iterations help you overcome biases. Each iteration should have hypotheses on what would work and what would not. Without hypotheses based on psychological, and behavioral principles it's just Art and not Design. And, keep soliciting feedback from stakeholders regularly.

How can you ensure your team follows interaction design best practices?

Interaction design is the process of creating engaging and intuitive interfaces that meet user needs and goals. It involves understanding the context, behavior, and feedback of the users, as well as the functionality, aesthetics, and accessibility of the system. Interaction design is a crucial component of user experience design (UED), which aims to create satisfying and meaningful experiences for the users. However, interaction design is not a solo activity; it requires collaboration and communication among different stakeholders, such as developers, product managers, content writers, and testers. How can you ensure your team follows interaction design best practices? Here are some tips to help you.

1 Define the problem and the users

Before you start designing any solution, you need to have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and the users you are designing for. You can use various methods, such as user research, personas, scenarios, user journeys, and user stories, to gather and analyze user needs, preferences, pain points, and goals. You should also define the scope, objectives, and constraints of the project, and align them with the business and technical requirements. By defining the problem and the users, you can create a shared vision and a common language for your team, and avoid unnecessary assumptions and conflicts.

Add your perspective

Harshita Hassani

Senior Product Designer @ Optum
Report contribution
We share a design brief template across our team members which basically asks about project name, product, business requirement, features and then asks mention the problem. After they understand problem then they connect with user and follow the same design methodology across team with our primary inputs. At last, we make sure that template is properly filled across our team and discuss it within respective seniors to get feedback and start our process.

Like

2 Sketch and prototype ideas

Once you have defined the problem and the users, you can start generating and exploring different ideas for the solution. You can use sketching and prototyping tools, such as paper, wireframes, mockups, or interactive prototypes, to visualize and test your ideas quickly and cheaply. You should involve your team and your users in the ideation and evaluation process, and solicit feedback and suggestions from them. By sketching and prototyping ideas, you can stimulate creativity, foster collaboration, and validate your assumptions and hypotheses.

Add your perspective

Tanuj A. Shah

UX Leader | CEO at Userfacet and BuildUX | Simplifying Complex Interactions into Usable, Useful Designs | Creating Innovative Tools to make Strategic UX Accessible to All
Report contribution
Iterations!... There is no unicorn designer who creates a perfect design in the first attempt. Many first attempts are great, however, at least 3 iterations help you overcome biases. Each iteration should have hypotheses on what would work and what would not. Without hypotheses based on psychological, and behavioral principles it's just Art and not Design. And, keep soliciting feedback from stakeholders regularly.

Like
Harshita Hassani

Senior Product Designer @ Optum
Report contribution
Paper and pencil are best buddies to put everything at one place and connect dots. From gathering business requirements to sketching up the user flow , it always help to be more clear as a designer. Once we have that clarity,I believe it’s much easier to share insights confidently with stakeholders. This practice helps us to get done more efficiently in less time.

Like

3 Apply design principles and patterns

To ensure your solution is consistent, usable, and intuitive, you should apply some fundamental design principles and patterns to your interaction design. Some of the common design principles are visibility, feedback, affordance, consistency, simplicity, and hierarchy. Some of the common design patterns are navigation, search, forms, menus, buttons, and icons. You can also refer to existing design systems, such as Material Design or iOS Human Interface Guidelines, or create your own design system based on your brand identity and style guide. By applying design principles and patterns, you can enhance the quality, clarity, and efficiency of your interaction design.

Add your perspective

4 Communicate and document your design

After you have finalized your solution, you need to communicate and document your design to your team and other stakeholders, such as developers, product managers, content writers, and testers. You can use various tools, such as annotations, specifications, style guides, or user manuals, to explain the logic, functionality, and behavior of your interaction design. You should also provide examples, scenarios, or use cases to illustrate how your design works in different situations and contexts. By communicating and documenting your design, you can ensure your design is understood, implemented, and maintained correctly.

Add your perspective

Stanton B.

I develop UX organizations to maturity using intergroup leadership principles. | Intergroup Leadership | UX Leadership | Digital Strategy | UX Architecture | UX Research | UX Design | Army Veteran
Report contribution
Communication is key if you want your team to follow interaction design best practices. It’s important to establish an alignment of norms with your team around what your standards are. This is particularly important when you have multiple levels of fidelity in your team’s artifacts. When this is the case, it’s very helpful to define when we move from connected screens, such as in a wire-flow, all the way to connected micro-interactions. Establishing team norms and alignment around these principles will make shared decision-making much easier in a collaborative team environment.

Like

5 Iterate and improve your design

Finally, you need to iterate and improve your design based on the feedback and data you collect from your team, your users, and your system. You can use various methods, such as usability testing, user interviews, surveys, analytics, or A/B testing, to measure and evaluate the performance, satisfaction, and engagement of your interaction design. You should also track and prioritize the issues, bugs, and suggestions that arise from the testing and evaluation process, and make the necessary changes and enhancements to your design. By iterating and improving your design, you can optimize your interaction design and deliver a better user experience.

Add your perspective

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

Add your perspective

Load more contributions

How can you ensure your team follows interaction design best practices?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define the problem and the users

2 Sketch and prototype ideas

3 Apply design principles and patterns

4 Communicate and document your design

5 Iterate and improve your design

6 Here’s what else to consider

User Experience Design

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

More articles on User Experience Design

More relevant reading

How can you ensure your team follows interaction design best practices?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define the problem and the users

2 Sketch and prototype ideas

3 Apply design principles and patterns

4 Communicate and document your design

5 Iterate and improve your design

6 Here’s what else to consider

User Experience Design

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

Explore Other Skills