Category: Interaction Design

AI can mean a lot of things – chatbots, text generators, self-driving cars – but in recent years, the capabilities of AI technologies in the fields of art and design have come increasingly into the limelight. Whether it’s turning open-source data into public art pieces, as in the case of Turkish media artist Refik Anadol, generating scarily realistic high-fashion images for Instagram, creating NFTs with just a few clicks, or recreating an existing artist’s style and calling into question the as-yet nonexistent ethical boundaries of AI visualization. A lot of AI imagery ends up on Twitter for its wacky output, but these algorithms are only getting smarter and more prominent, and the future for them is at once boundless and unknown.

Alongside the rise of AI visualization has been the fear and ridicule coming from the arts and design communities, fearing AI will lead to loss of work for “real” artists, and the devaluation of art in general. But is this fear warranted? Although AI is undeniably powerful, it is still beholden to a real, live person telling it what to do, and injecting the heart and emotion that (as of yet) is only possible by a human hand.

What are the future possibilities for human-AI collaboration in art and design? Is there any merit to the outright rejection of such technologies? As someone with a background in interior architecture, I feel very much out of my depth when it comes to discussions around AI. The topic still conjures images of The Matrix, and I couldn’t really tell you when and where AI is currently being used, and how it affects our everyday lives. As an Interaction Design student, I am fascinated by the intersection between art, design, and technology, and I chose this topic to teach myself (and anyone else who is too scared to ask), “What is AI doing out there, anyways”?.

Some interesting sources:

Baio, A. (2022, September 9). Online Art Communities Begin Banning AI-Generated Images. Waxy. https://waxy.org/2022/09/online-art-communities-begin-banning-ai-generated-images/

Herrman, J. (2022, September 19). AI Art is Here and the World is Already Different. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/09/ai-art-is-here-and-the-world-is-already-different.html#_ga=2.135489719.742585595.1667671967-2021799881.1667671967

NYT Cooking. (2022, November 4). Can A.I. Generate the Perfect Thanksgiving? | Priya Krishna | NYT Cooking [Video]. Youtube. https://youtu.be/yT8KoWpqUgg

Paetzhold, M. (2022, September 4). Online Art Communities Begin Banning AI-Generated Images. Intelligencer. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/will-dall-e-ai-artist-take-my-job.html#_ga=2.135489719.742585595.1667671967-2021799881.1667671967

TED. (2020, August 19). Art in the age of machine intelligence | Refik Anadol [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxQDG6WQT5s

TED. (2020, April 6). Art that reveals how technology frames reality | Jiabao Li [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT8icNhydtg

TED. (2022, January 12. Jeff Dean: AI isn’t as smart as you think — but it could be | TED [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-FzHIQ7SOs

TED. (2019, November 14). The danger of AI is weirder than you think | Janelle Shane [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhCzX0iLnOc

A Solution to Engage Children with Nature?

It is no secret that nowadays children often prefer screen time to playing outside, which was heightened even further by the pandemic. I was able to observe this change happening over the last few years, having worked with children between the ages of six months and nine years for almost eight years. I want to explore the gamification of nature to make children more aware of their environment and create something they are excited to use as an additional reason to play outside.

Children, especially only children were heavily affected by the pandemic since they had no other kids to play with. They were not allowed to meet up with other children and it was challenging to keep them entertained at home or outside. Therefore, they oftentimes resolved to screen time. Particularly single parents with an only child had a difficult time juggling all their responsibilities. This impacted those kids immensely since children’s experiences are heavily dependent on adults (Gundersen et al., 2016). Always having to play alone as an only child can get boring quickly which is why I want to find a way to keep kids entertained outside while also learning something in the process. This led me to question the importance of nature in children’s lives, how much they appreciate nature and how aware of their surroundings they are. Is there a playful approach to instill nature awareness in children and make them want to play outside?
The following three goals will be at the core of my research and should be reflected throughout the entire process, as this is an impact-driven project:

Inspire children to play outside.
I want children to enjoy being in nature and create something they are excited to use as an additional reason to play outside.

Playful education.
My goal is to create an enjoyable form of education. The information should not be forced on but be necessary to play the game.

Raise awareness.
I want the children to become more mindful of their immediate surroundings and nature in the long run.

Now to the role design plays in this project. None of the goals can be achieved if the design isn’t easy to use and appealing to children, since they wouldn’t want to interact with the final product otherwise. The most challenging aspect of the design however will be that not all users will be able to read yet. Symbolism, icons, and associations will be at the center of the design process to create a universally accessible experience.It is a complex topic with many different layers that I’m excited to explore and see to which results it will lead me.

References
Crawford, M. R., Holder, M. D. & O’Connor, B. P. (2016). Using Mobile Technology to Engage Children with Nature.Environment and Behavior, 49(9), 959-984. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916516673870

Cumbo, B. J., Paay, J., Kjeldskov, J., & Jacobs, B. C. (2014). Connecting children to nature with technology. Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Interaction Design and Children. https://doi.org/10.1145/2593968.2610449

Gundersen, V., O’Brien, L. & Skar, M. (2016). How to engage children with nature: Why not just let them play? Children’s Geographies, 14(5), 527-540. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2015.1136734

Quay, J., Gray, T., Thomas, G., Allen-Craig, S., Asfeldt, M., Andkjaer, S., Beames, S., Cosgriff, M., Dyment, J., Higgins, P., Ho, S., Leather, M., Mitten, D., Morse, M., Neill, J., North, C., Passy, R., Pedersen-Gurholt, K., Polley, S., . . . Foley, D. (2020). What future/s for outdoor and environmental education in a world that has contended with COVID-19? Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education, 23(2), 93–117.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42322-020-00059-2

Designpattern – helpful concept or simple habit?
We live with pattern every day. In fact, our brains are hardwired with pattern. Pattern recognition is a basic human information processing skill and an important process for perceiving our environment. Perception depends on knowledge and experience that people already have. The brain compares stimuli to previously stored information in long-term memory to categorize them. Without previously acquired experience, humans cannot recognize patterns. [1]

It is related to habit because habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and usually takes place automatically. It is related to habit because habit is a behavioral routine that is regularly repeated and usually automatic. We follow habits and patterns because they make things easier for us, but sometimes this behavior is even fatal, as common diseases of civilization prove. I was wondering if the same is true for UI/UX patterns.

In UI design, Usability is one of the most important factors to consider when designing a UI. And Usability is often critical for a good User Experience. To ensure good usability, designers need not only carefully consider their design but also use a common design pattern. Jenifer Tidwell, a renowned interface designer, is responsible for bringing pattern design into the world of UI design. She created many of the first patterns that are now used in modern web and app design. Since then, Designers have also built up design pattern libraries, which hold a solution for a variety of Interface Design Problems. [2] But does that mean if we follow design patterns and design principles the UI will always turn out good? Therefore, I want to explore what distinguishes good from bad UI design, and whether following design patterns is always a good idea, or whether constant repetition of past solutions tends to prevent innovative ideas.

Design Pattern – definition of term
A pattern is something that repeats itself and has a predictable outcome. Even though people’s experiences are tied to their past empirical experiences, the way the human brain and perception works makes behavior predictable. Design patterns are based on the fact that humans repeat behavior and act in a certain way. [3] Common patterns like login and registration processes, social logins, user on boarding, breadcrumbs, date pickers have become established in digital products nowadays. One rule of good interface design is to repeat what’s already in use. Indeed, using a tried and tested solution, does not even save time for developing concept and UI design but also promotes the users learnability curve. [4]

The Concept and term was first defined by the Austrian-born U.S. architect and architectural theorist Christopher Alexander [5] in early 1977, who created his own design patterns for architecture. [6] This approach was later used in software development where patterns became proven, tested methods for developing software faster. The use of pattern can save time in the development process and reduce the potential for unexpected issues. Also it makes code more understandable which is also true for general understanding and communication approaches in the field of UI/UX design.[7] With the close relationship between the two disciplines, the leap to UI design was not far.

Design Pattern – then, now, forever the same?
According to current knowledge about perception and human behavior, the use of design patterns is a good thing, as they help save time in development and improve UX. But is this really true, or are designers and developers simply addicted to a self-perpetuating habit, even though the solution may not be the best – just as some habits turn out not to be good. When we break free from constant repetition, do we gain a new perspective and find even better solutions to UI problems?

Another considerable aspect is the innate human drive to progress. When do we reach the point where we get tired and bored of repeating the same thing over and over again? There are already movements that intentionally break patterns, like Brutalism in web design. That might be an indicator that we need some change. Many new trends in disciplines like architecture, art, and fashion have been created in opposition to conformity. Brutalism in 2019 came up as a protest against the very shiny design of mainstream website design and fed the retro feeling at the time. It did not catch on, but is an interesting new approach to making web design less conformist and developing independent design styles. [8]

Designpattern – predict the future
Once a pattern is invented, is it valid forever or does it change over time and especially with technological change? In fact, design patterns naturally change over time, especially as technology advances. When the mobile phone came along, designers had to find new ways to design concepts and interfaces, they had to adapt to voice-controlled devices like Alexa, and they will continue to have to find new ways with new inventions in the future. Another interesting aspect of change in the future is the evolution of AI. If we consider all the rules and patterns that already exist, can AI be useful for UI/UX engineers?

I would also like to make a short digression on the question: If we follow the don´t-make-them-think paradigm, will users not think at all in the future? Will designers make us think and will they relieve our cognitive processes and allow us to engage in more relevant thoughts, or will they impair the human ability to think in complex ways?

1. Youguo Pi, Wenzhi Liao, Mingyou Liu and Jianping Lu (2008). Theory of Cognitive Pattern Recognition, Pattern Recognition Techniques, Technology and Applications, Peng-Yeng Yin (Ed.) InTech, S.434-435
   Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/pattern_recognition_techniques_technology_and_applications/theory_of_cognitive_pattern_recognition –
2. Using Design Patterns in User Interface Design, Chelsea Chase, 2012, S. 2
3. Designing Interfaces, Jenifer Tidwell, 2005, S. 11
4. Dialogprinzipien DIN EN ISO 9241-110
5. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Alexander
6. Using Design Patterns in User Interface Design, Chelsea Chase, 2012, S. 3
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_design_pattern
8. The rise of brutalism and antidesign, Ellen Brage, 2019, S. 2 (https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1304924/FULLTEXT01.pdf),

Let’s reminisce back in the days, when you were 14 years old. You just finished Secondary Modern school, and you are about to make (professional) decisions which might have a huge impact for the rest of your life. Not an easy one. You might get a lot of information about different school types and vocational programs in school, on educational fairs or find them online. Especially when looking for a vocational program, you might get tons of theoretical information, but how these jobs will look like in real life is often very difficult to imagine. 

A wide variety of media can be used to present information. Most of these media approaches provide a very superficial impression and the chances to get deeper insights into the job are quite low. 

For this topic, I was inspired by my nephew. He is 14 years old and currently attending the “Polytechnische Schule”. Next fall he will start a vocational program, but where he will end up is not defined yet. In the first semester of his last year at school the pupils have two weeks in total to get deeper insights first experiences into the chosen companies. It is their choice where they want to go but the options are limited especially in the region where I grew up. When I was in the same situation if I want to continue attending further school or choosing a vocational program, I did not really know what I want to become. I was still motivated to learn and therefore I chose to get further education. Even though I had access to all the information I needed, I was not able to get a more practical insight into different programs and jobs. 

Therefore, I was asking myself, how can pupils at the age between 12 and 15 get a more and deeper insights into different vocational programs. First ideas which go into the direction of Virtual Environment (VE) have been researched but need to be more examined. For further research I want to analyze different media approaches and kinds of infotainment. 

Sources

Checa, David, und Andres Bustillo. „A review of immersive virtual reality serious games to enhance learning and training“. Multimedia Tools and Applica- tions 79, Nr. 9 (1. März 2020): 5501–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-019- 08348-9.

Ferguson, Chris, Egon L. van den Broek, und Herre van Oostendorp. „On the role of interaction mode and story structure in virtual reality serious games“. Computers & Education 143 (1. Januar 2020): 103671. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103671.

Makransky, Guido, Gustav Petersen, und Sara Klingenberg. „Can an Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation Increase Students’ Interest and Career Aspirations in Science?“ British Journal of Educational Technology 51 (22. April 2020). https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.12954.

Österreichische Gewerkschaftsjugend. „Zahlen & Fakten zur Lehre“, o. J. https://www.oegj.at/meine-situation/ich-bin-lehrling/fakten-zur-lehre.

Veermans, Koen, und Tomi Jaakkola. „Pedagogy in Educational Simulations and Games“. In VR, Simulations and Serious Games for Education, herausge- geben von Yiyu Cai, Wouter van Joolingen, und Zachary Walker, 5–14. Singa- pore: Springer Singapore, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2844- 2_2.

Happy laughter, the most beautiful faces and bodies, the most loving couples, numerous activities, travels and adventures… the perfect life. This describes nowadays our Instagram feed and thus a social media app that we are “exposed” to every day. The problem here: this is not life. We’re not always super happy, head over heels in love, constantly traveling, and our faces don’t have soft focus. This begs the questions: what is Instagram actually doing to us? And what are we doing with Instagram? How do we deal with this social pressure of the super happy life, how do we present ourselves on such a platform, how much are we influenced by what we see there every day and how does it change us and thus society? 

My personal motivation behind this is my environment and movements on Instagram like the hashtags #realinstagram #foremorerealityoninstagram, which make it clear that this problem of the supposedly social medium has already been recognized by many and attempts are being made to fight against it or to change the platform in a better direction.

On the basis of this social phenomenon, I would like to analyze how these dark patterns are implemented in design, what psychological design tools are used, and what effects this has. I would like to look at Instagram from two sides, the side of the dark patterns and the side of the opportunities and possibilities that this platform offers.

After a consideration from a phenomenological point of view, my vision is a media didactic work, which should aim at raising awareness of this topic, sensitizing society to it and especially at offering opportu­nities for the generations that are newly growing into the social media everyday life, or are thrown into it much more, to be able to deal with this format properly.

Literature

Toxic Social Media

Instagram Accounts to Make Your Feed Less Toxic

Body positivity on Instagram

Instagram use and mental health

Motives for Instagram Use

Instagram Photos and Depression

Bildpraktiken auf Instagram

Video games have been an important part of our live for a long time already. People spend increasingly more time online, so it is only natural that they meet online and use chat and voice channels as their only tool for communication.

Often, you do not see the other persons face, hands, or body language in general. But human being do not only communicate through speech, so what happens if major parts of the human to human communication are lacking? Can people online build bonds as strong as they are when people meet in real life?

Over the past few months, I have been developing a game called Pandoras Box. The goal of the game is to get to know a person better and find out new things about them. To achieve this, two players are asked questions that become increasingly more personal or challenging to answer. Games that have similar objectives or include similar features are “Awkward”, “Jackbox Games” or “Never have I ever”. These games, however, all lack important aspects that are mandatory for a good experience.

A majority of the actual game play happens while the two players are discussing their answers in a voice channel on common platforms like Discord or Teamspeak. The game consist of 10 rounds where a question is asked to each player every round. After the question was asked to the first player, the second player has to guess the answer of the first player – if they get it correct, they get a point. Even though at the end of the game, the score is displayed to the players, the game is not about winning or losing but about getting to know more about the person.

Pandoras Box game can be used to analyse how missing communication parts like facial expressions and gestures affect the depth of the conversation in an online voice channel.

Is it possible to hold a conversation with as much meaning and depth online during a game as it is in person?

What are the differences in communication styles and how do player adapt their speech to the situation.

To answer these questions, players will be asked questions about their game partner before and after playing a few rounds of Pandoras Box to evaluate psychological aspects of understanding and empathizing with another person.

Sources:

• Understanding Human Communication
• The impact of voice in an Online Gaming Community
• Voice in Virtual Worlds: The design, use and influence of voice chat in online play
• Voice-only communication enhances empathic accuracy
• A Comparison of Offline and Online Friendship Qualities at Different Stages of Relationship Development
• Exploring similarities and differences between online and offline friendships
• Trust and Hyperpersonal Communication in Online Friendships

Creating a website these days doesn’t just mean putting content on a digital canvas in a well-organized way. No, in this day and age, user experience and barrier-free design are much more important. When you enter a building for the first time, you want to know immediately where the toilets or entrances and exits are, so that you don’t wander through the corridors at a loss. Users on websites must also not get the feeling that they are lost.  Thus, it has become the task of web designers to present all users with an intuitive, intelligent and beautifully designed experience.

But even if all these design criteria for a user-friendly website are met, gamification can also help to significantly improve the experience on the website. Gamification is the transfer of game characteristics into non-game processes. Gamification increases motivation, for example, when users can solve small puzzles on websites, collect tokens for online stores, or actually find small programmed games on the website. Depending on the content gamification can also raise awareness and establish behavioral patterns, conveys content in an entertaining way and/or raise the learning curve for educational content.

Of course, users must not have the feeling that they have landed in a game involuntarily, rather, web designers must use gamification in a targeted and well-measured manner so as not to annoy users. Gamification works best when the users of a website have a positive attitude towards any games and, in the best case, have certain skills. This makes it all the more tricky, when people who are critical of such communication methods look uses websites where gamification was placed. Therefore, it is crucial that the elements and sequences are implemented in a balanced and effective way.

Sources

Books

• Heidt, Margareta. Gamification : Grundlagen der Implementierung spieltypischer Elemente im Wirtschaftskontext. 2012.
• Zichermann, Gabe, and Christopher Cunningham. Gamification by Design: Implementing Game Mechanics in Web and Mobile Apps. First edition., 2011.

Online-sources