How the communication between designers was affected by ActionSketch, a technique to improve sketches in interaction design

Abstract

Sketching is a well-established practice in many areas of design. Sketches and communication are tightly connected because one of the main functions of sketches is to help a designer communicate with colleagues. Interaction design is a new field of design that poses challenges for sketching and considering these challenges we proposed ActionSketch, a technique to improve the process of sketching for interaction design. We conducted four workshops with 24 professionals, followed by a period of continued use of approximately three weeks and an individual interview. Regarding communication between professionals, we found two sets of results: when all designers knew the technique and when some or all of the designers didn't know it. In the first case the technique facilitated the communication and points to three main benefits: verbal explanation was no longer needed; drawings became more evident; presentation of the drawings was less important. In the opposite case it ended being an obstacle. We argue that this is an intrinsic dilemma for the technique, there is a learning barrier, and we can only make the process easier. However, when at least one designer knew the technique it was no longer a barrier and even became a facilitator in critic situations. Given these results, claim that the technique has a positive effect on communication between professionals.

Designing interaction: How do interaction design students address interaction?

“…As Ozenc et al (2010) propose, designers can sketch by creating scenarios to explore how products might participate in a transaction over time. Learning to use a sketching notation when using pen and paper or a whiteboard could help in articulating and representing aspects of interaction (Barros and Velloso 2013). By encouraging the use of graphical means such as arrows, storyboards etc.…”

“…Providing with detailed notations of how to sketch and represent aspects of interaction helped representing interaction. However, as noted by the authors, proficient use of the technique requires training (Barros and Velloso 2013). Tholander et al (2008) analyzed how interaction designers expressed interaction and dynamics through white board drawings and observed that whiteboard sketches did not carry meaning in themselves but were made meaningful through the talk accompanying the sketching activity as well as through the bodily movement and gestures of the designers oriented towards the drawings.…”

“…Similarly, Barros and Velloso (2013) have in a study conducted with professional interaction designers developed a technique to improve sketching of interaction. The proposed technique aims to aid in representing interactions over time by use of frames, to organize different sketches and better represent interaction by use of colors, to represent user actions and improve consistency in specific situations by use of symbols, and the use of rules to aid in applying the technique.…”

A Notation to Support Exploring Collaboration in Design Teams

“…Expanding the design process to the team, designing can be seen as a distributed cognitive process, involving the designers, their materials and environments [39,40]. Thus also in this case, representations of various kinds support this distributed cognitive process working as "material anchors", influencing the process and allowing the team to evolve and to reach a final proposition [41][42][43].…”