Interaction Design (Paperback)

by Jenny Preece (Author), Yvonne Rogers (Author), Helen Sharp (Author) "How many interactive products are there in everyday use?..." (more)
Key Phrases: user experience goals, interaction design model, designing interactive products, Color Plate, New York, Morgan Kaufmann (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A near definitive guide which covers not only HCI but also the issues which effect and are affected by human computer interaction." (M2 Communications, 7 June 2002)

"...an excellent foundation for teaching interaction design, and a good text for self-study in the skills involved. I cannot recommend it too highly..." (AISB Quarterly, Summer 2002) 

“…consists of a wide range of issues that go beyond the traditional scope of human-computer interaction…useful to students…research and development people will find stimulating ideas on the potential of the web and of wireless and collaborative technologies…”  (Computer Bulletin, September 2002)

“…useful and usable by multidisciplinary teams…”   (Human / Computer Interaction Bibliography, September 2002)

“…the practicing professional will get a lot from this…supported by an innovative web site…”  (Atlantic Systems Guild, September 2002)

"…a must-read…unique, inspiriring…" (SIGHCI Newsletter)

Review
"The best basis around for user-centered interaction design, both as a primer for students as an introduction to the field, and as a resource for research practitioners to fall back on. It should be labelled 'start here'."
—Pieter Jan Stappers, ID-StudioLab, Delft University of Technology

In the field of Interaction Design one book stands out, a book that has established itself at the core of the field. With this new edition, the authors have successfully strengthened that position. The new structure and content makes the book highly relevant and needed in the field. Anyone who wants to learn about the basics of interaction design should make this book their first stop!"
—Erik Stolterman, Ph.D., Indiana University, USA

This new edition of Interaction Design is a welcome and timely support for those of us teaching and researching in the field. It fills in the gaps that were emerging in the first edition as new interactive technologies become available and older ones change so much. I value this text for the way it is so grounded in real examples and actual human practices, and for its strong design focus. It is a most useful and usable book.
—Dr Toni Robertson, Interaction Design and Work Practice Lab, University of Technology, Sydney

"The first edition of Interaction Design has been my text book of choice for general HCI courses at both undergraduate and Masters level for several years. It is authoritative, eminently readable and thought-provoking for students. It achieves a good balance between the human, computing and design aspects of the subject. The second edition strengthens the treatment of data gathering and analysis and approaches to evaluation, and introduces a welcome focus on affective aspects of interaction, reflecting recent research developments in the discipline. I am looking forward to working with this new edition."
—Ann Blandford, Director of UCL Interaction Centre and Professor of Human–Computer Interaction

"An exceptional book that helps bring design thinking and a human perspective to the conceptualization and development of technology-based products and systems."
—Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 17, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471492787
• ISBN-13: 978-0471492788
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #479,537 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Required for anyone who is serious about interface design, January 15, 2003

By	Ben Rothke "Author of 'Computer Security: 20 ... (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Interaction Design: Beyond Human-computer Interaction (Hardcover)

The field of interface and interaction design is formally known as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). It is significant that a large amount of HCI deals with non-programming issues such as psychological approaches to end-user experience, social manners of the audience, and more. Interaction Design and The Essential Guide to User Interface Design provide a comprehensive overview of the essentials of interface design.

Beyond Interaction Design is an important book for designing effective and capable interfaces to software applications.

Interaction Design is a meat and potatoes book about HCI. Rather than focusing on the software that drives the application, the book analyzes how users actually interact with the system. This interaction is what ultimately will determine whether a system is successful or unproductive.

The book provides a comprehensive look at the entire set of requirements involved with design. The authors show that there is much more to systems design than end-user requirements and CGI scripts. Effective HCI is a multi-disciplinary area including psychology, sociology, anthropology, information systems, and computer science.

The authors write that their book is called "Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction" because it is concerned with the broader scope of issues, topics, and paradigms than has been traditionally written in other books. The book notes that there has never been a greater need for interactions designers and usability engineers to develop current and next-generation interaction technologies. To be successful in the interface design game, programmers need a mixed set of skills, which is not an easy task.

Interaction Design comprises 15 densely packed chapters that integrate all of the various cognitive, social, and other issues that are germane to interaction design. Chapter 1 provides an overview of what makes for good and bad design. Chapter 3 gets into the psychological aspect of HCI and looks at cognition and how users interact with the systems they implement. None of the book makes for easy reading, as the topics at hand are often multifaceted and complex. Chapter 6 deals with the process of interaction design and for the most part ends the psychological approach, while Chapters 7 through 10 deal with the actual design of the system.

The book has a number of real-world case studies, and also includes interviews with various authorities on HCI. However, it does not get into specific technologies (Solaris, Linux, etc.). Also, each chapter concludes with a number of references, which can be used as a launching pad for more information.

I highly recommend Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction for anyone who is serious about interface design. Your users will appreciate it.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Course Text for HCI students, September 4, 2003

By	Anthony Faiola (IUPUI, HCI Grad Program, Indianapolis, Indiana USA) - See all my reviews

The breath and depth of this text truly embodies the necessary content for beginning HCI students in an undergraduate and graduate program. I've successfully used this text every semester with my students since its inception. The author's perspective of the discipline accurately reflects an increasing trend in HCI education that places less emphasis on computing and more on designing products to enhance human communication based on the social sciences. It is organized to provide an instructor a way to pick and choose selected chapters or proceed sequentially. Each chapter is multi-dimensional in its approach to provide an array of content that includes both theory and practice. I highly recommend it.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Adequate but not great, December 7, 2005

By	William J. Wolfe - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have used this text for a year and half, for three instances of the same course (upper division undergrad). Good: 1. Each chapter is about a week's work, so it fits the schedule nicely; 2. Each chapter has "activities", "summary", and "assignments" which I find very useful when making assignments; 3. Lots of illustrations; 4. Interviews with professionals in the field are added at the end of each chapter -- this adds another dimension to the "textbook" aspects of the book; 5. Cartoons here and there. Could be improved: the quality of some of the illustrations -- some of them are photos that are dark and hard to make out. Some look like they came from the 1950s -- I am not sure how that is possible in a book published in 2002, but that's what it looks like to me. Still, the text is "nicely illustrated". The thing that stops this from being a "great" text is the quality of the writing and presentation of ideas. The writing is too simplistic. A "great" text finds ways to express things in a succinct manner, summarizing key ideas. Instead, this book tends to be wordy in many places, and lacks an effective organization of ideas. Finally, the text is starting to appear "dated", but few textbooks can withstand the breakneck speed of change in this area. That said, no student has complained (to me) about the text (but neither have they praised it). And, I have not been able to find a better text.