Interactive design

Interactive design. What is it?

For something that is becoming more and more popular and more frequently accessed, a lot of people don't even know what it is. In fact, the majority of people would probably be an everyday user of interactive design and not even realize. So, what exactly is interactive design?

According to Winograd interactive design is "the design of spaces for human communication and interaction", 1997. So in other words, spaces which allow us to interact in passive activity where we can gain feedback, control, creativity, productivity, communication, and adaptivity. Most of the time these spaces are accessed on the internet. Types of internet sites that are classed as being interactive are:

Online communities, like:

• Blogs forums
  
• Internet dating websites
  
• Chat rooms
  

Online shopping websites

Information servers, such as:

• Research sites, like Wiki's
  
• Online educational resources.
  

  Excellent examples of interactive websites are ebay, Deviant Art, and Wikipedia. For instance, ebay allows millions of users to log on simultaneously to post products and items which they wish to sell, and control elements like the price, whether it is auction or simple sale, and who actually deserves the item. This site is very different in comparison to a site that is just text based, because not only do you receive interaction with the website itself but also with other people via the internet.
  

The main two elements of interactive design are:

• Instances where users are forced to respond and engage
  
• Both the designer and the user work together to see an effect or influence which is much greater the initial result.