Interaction Design Foundations: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Relates to UI, UX, and AI

Key takeaways

• Interaction design is a branch of user experience design that focuses specifically on designing the interaction between users and products.

• Artificial intelligence can assist in the design process across research, problem-solving, solution generation, prototyping, testing, and documentation.

• Interaction design leverages dimensions such as words, visual representations, physical objects and spaces, time, and behavior to enhance product usability and accessibility as well as improve your overall experience.

Interaction design aims to make your user experience stress-free and seamless, increasing the likelihood that you’ll continue using the product. Explore interaction design, including the dimensions and principles related to the discipline, and how you can use AI for interaction design.

If you’re ready to learn more about designing ideal user experiences, consider enrolling in the Interaction Design Specialization. In as little as three months, you’ll have the opportunity to build skills in A/B testing, design research, usability, human-computer interaction, and more. Upon completion, you’ll have earned a shareable certificate to add to your LinkedIn profile.

What is interaction design?

Interaction design, a part of user experience (UX) design, refers to the interplay between users and products, typically software products such as applications or websites. Sometimes referred to as IxD, interaction design focuses on how users interact with a product and often leverages elements such as motion, sound, and aesthetics, including color, pattern, and scale, to enhance usability and functionality.

The goal of interaction design is to understand your behaviors, needs, and motivations in relation to a product to turn that insight into design solutions that bridge the gap between you and the technology you’re using. Effective interaction design results in interfaces that enable you, as the user, to complete your task intuitively, efficiently, and seamlessly, creating an enjoyable, stress-free experience [1].

What is the difference between interaction design and UX design?

The significant difference between interaction design and UX design is scope. UX design encompasses not only your interaction with a product but also your overall relationship with it. UX design focuses on the entire user journey, including your brand perception, customer service experiences, emotional responses, and other experiences that may not involve direct interaction with a product. Interaction design, meanwhile, focuses primarily on how products respond to your actions and how you feel about the interactions, ensuring a high-quality experience throughout the design process [2].

What are the 5 dimensions of interaction design?

The five dimensions of interaction design, which include words, visual representations, physical objects or space, time, and behavior, guide the interaction design process and help interaction designers envision how you might use a product in the real world. Because every interaction determines your feelings on a product’s overall usability, accessibility, and experience, it’s essential to incorporate multiple dimensions, each leveraging its own unique qualities, into each interaction [3].

Consider how the different dimensions contribute to your overall experience when interacting with a product.

1. Words

Words used in interaction design, such as button labels or navigation menu items, should be simple, concise, and action-oriented, conveying meaning without overwhelming you as the user.

2. Visual representations

Visual representations are the graphical elements, including images, typography, icons, and the overall layout, that you interact with. These elements typically accompany words to further support your interaction with the product.

3. Physical objects or space

Physical objects refer to the device you will use to interact with the product, as well as the interactions you use (tapping, typing, swiping, or clicking). For example, you might use a laptop with a mouse or a touchpad that requires clicking or a smartphone that requires swiping with your finger.

You can think of “space” as the environment in which your interactions will likely take place. For example, a product designed for interaction on a mobile phone while standing on a busy public bus may differ from one designed for use while sitting at your desk using your laptop.

Important components of this dimension include ergonomics, comfort, adaptability, and responsiveness, based on the tools you use and the physical space where you are likely to interact with the product.

4. Time

Time refers to aspects of a product, such as animations, transitions, videos, and audio, that change over time. These types of media often serve as a source of feedback that helps you understand cause and effect, manage expectations, and confirm the system is working properly. Progress bars and the appearance of a subtle animation after you complete an action are examples of the confirmations this dimension provides.

Other considerations associated with this dimension include how much time you spend interacting with the product, whether you can easily track your progress or resume your interaction later, and other time-sensitive issues, such as how long it takes to transition between screens.

5. Behavior

Behavior, added as the fifth dimension after the establishment of the original four dimensions, considers the system’s response to your actions within the interface. When you tap, speak, swipe, or type, how does the product respond? Effective interaction design ensures that the result of your action is clear and predictable and that, if an error occurs after your action, you can easily recover from it.

What are the core principles of interaction design?

In addition to the five dimensions of interaction design, other principles, such as clarity, feedback, user-centeredness, cognition, consistency, visibility, error detection, and more, guide the interaction design process. These principles consider interactions between you and the product holistically, taking into account the device and interface you’re using, as well as the context, environment, and you, the user [3].

Why does interaction design matter?

Effective interaction design is stress-free, seamless, and enjoyable, encouraging repeat engagement with a company’s product. If your interactions are positive, you will likely return to it, rely on it, and possibly even recommend it to others, helping to build a company’s brand.

If you find yourself struggling with a product during your first interactions, you’re more likely to abandon it, regardless of the brand. Practical features, appealing aesthetics, and responsive design all contribute to a product’s value.

You can quantify the impacts of effective UX design and, by default, interaction design. In a study commissioned by a user testing company (aptly named UserTesting) to measure the potential return on investment for its user testing solutions, the financial impacts of optimized usability and increased customer retention (resulting from robust user testing) over a three-year period were impressive. The financial benefits for the organization that implemented UserTesting’s solutions totaled $2,592,000 due to optimized usability and $3,110,400 due to increased customer retention, a clear indication that interaction design and other UX design principles matter [4].

Interaction design vs. UI design

User interface (UI) design focuses on the arrangement of visual elements, such as icons, buttons, fonts, and spacing in an interface, whereas interaction design focuses on how those elements respond to your input as the user. UI design aims to create a consistent, pleasing visual experience, while IxD focuses on intuitive flow, clear navigation, and helpful feedback.

Read more: UI vs. UX Design: What’s the Difference?

How can you use AI in interaction design?

You can use artificial intelligence (AI) for research, problem-solving, prototyping, testing, and more, all of which can help you address important interaction design principles. AI tools can lighten the load for interaction designers, taking on rote tasks like basic layout generation and freeing them to focus on nuanced behavioral details such as timing, error recovery flows, and accessibility that require human expertise.

The Interaction Design Foundation provides the following guidance on how you can use AI across the design process [5]:

• Research: Synthesize data to gain insights, increase understanding of user problems, and identify trends that can enhance usability.

• Define: Draft multiple problem framings, hypotheses, assumptions, and possible metrics based on your research, but evaluate alternatives rather than accepting the first framing.

• Ideate: Generate and compare multiple solution directions, and then evaluate ideas based on how well they solve the problem and further develop only the best options.

• Prototype: Quickly prototype copy, UI states, interactive layouts, and interactions, but validate clarity, accessibility, tone, and brand fit before moving forward.

• Test: Identify usability risks, edge cases, and testing priorities, validating findings with real users.

• Deliver: Document decisions, changes, stakeholder updates, and outcomes, ensuring you protect sensitive data and follow your organization’s privacy and security policies.

Tips for successfully using AI in interaction design include framing the situation so the AI understands what matters, providing evidence to guide it, specifying the output, and evaluating and refining it to ensure alignment with your users’ needs.

Stay current with design trends

Discover fresh insights into your career or learn about trends in your industry by subscribing to our LinkedIn newsletter, Career Chat! If you want to keep learning more about interaction design and UX, check out these free resources:

• Watch on YouTube: Figma for Product Managers: Prototyping Basics

• Read our Career Chat issue: A High-Income Skill for Creatives: User Experience

• Bookmark this online glossary: Glossary of UX Terms and Definitions

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