Importance of HCI and ID for computer scientists

Nowadays, people make use of interactive products every single day. Today, there are very few people that would leave their house without taking mobile phone which is one of interactive products. However, when we talk about interactive products, we do not mean only the electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, music players, but also products like calculator, remote control, which have an interactive design like any other product. Each product, has its own usability but not all of them can be enjoyable, effortless or easy in use. 

In order to avoid failures in developing a product, designers should always consider the design principles which are under the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). HCI is extremely important when designing clear intuitive systems which will be usable for people with a varied range of abilities and expertise (Rogers et al., 2015). In other words, it refers to the broad relationship of people and computers including interfaces and usability (Sherrill,2003) where on the other hand, ID is about the interaction through an interface between a system and its user (Verplank, 2015).

The main aim of ID is to develop interactive products that are easy, pleasurable, and effective to use. Not only use, but easy to learn and provide enjoyable user experience, which is a concern of interaction design (Rogers et atl., 2015). ID is very significant as we want to create an interactive product that will not be annoying and frustrating for users but will enhance engagement. At the end, they will be the one to use it and without following the principles, all the process of developing an interactive product, will be just a waste of time.

Thus, designers follow the HCI rules to make software and devices more understandable and usable to everyone because designing interactive products requires considering who is going to be using them, how they are going to be used, and where they are going to be used. To succeed in developing a product, designers need to know different things about users, technologies and interactions between them (Rogers et al., 2015). That is why both, HCI and ID fields are important for computer scientists.

“Good designers design what they would design before they start designing it” (Cobanli, n.d.).

References:
Rogers, Y., Preece, J., Sharp, H. (2015). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. 4th Edition. Wiley.
Verplank B. (2015). What is the difference between Interaction Design and UX Design?. "Interaction Design Foundation".
Cobanli M. (n.d.). A Design Award and Competition.
Sherrill A. (2013). What is the difference between Interaction Design and Human Computer Interaction?. "Quora".

This blog has been created to show the importance of HCI and ID for computer scientist. Stay tuned for further posts.