Dave Malouf (@daveixd) ist Interaction Designer, einer der Gründer der internationalen Interaction Design Association (IxDA) und Professor für Interaction Design an der Savanna School of Art & Design an der SCAD-Savannah. Seit Jahren beobachtet er die Entwicklung dieses relativ neuen Berufszweiges weltweit. Mit Interaktionsdesignerin Birgit Geiberger unterhielt er sich bei Interaction11 – der jährlichen IxDA-Konferenz – über die internationalen Unterschiede des Berufsbildes, die Möglichkeiten und Chancen sowie die Ausbildung zum Interaction Designer.

In his talk at the Interaction11 Carl Alviani (www.carlalviani.com) made an attempt to describe IxD to the outside world. He pointed out that people outside of the community do not have a clear image in their mind of what an interaction designer does. Important traits for interaction designers such as being empathic, having the ability to observe or having strong communication skills amongst other things are not unique for our profession. Graphic designers, information architects or even school teachers need similar traits, which makes it so hard for people to create an image of what an interaction designer is. What traits or knowledge base does an interaction designer need to have?

Dave Malouf: Let’s take knowledge. I think Richard Buchanan (http://design.case.edu) today very articulately expressed that interaction designers need to be a lot more well read.. As a community of practioners we don’t have enough understanding of philosophy, humanities and social sciences as well as design criticism and design history. It is an important knowledge base that does not get spoken about enough. The other part of the knowledge base is a strong grounding in HCI theory and knowledge. Both parts need to work together.

For an interaction designers visual skills are very important. It is not because everything we do is visual, it’s because visual communication is our mode of communicating to others. We also need to be good speakers, we need to be good presenters, and we need to be able to create abstract models of the very complex things that we are trying to make clear and to simplify and to make useable and useful. It is not necessarily about being a good UI designer, it’s about being able to create the artifacts that allow you to be a good UI designer. And if you find yourself as an interaction designer working in software or digital as opposed to services, I think it is imperative that you pick up code in some way. You need to know the basics in HTML5, CSS and Java Script and you need to be able to do some database manipulations, Flash or objective C.

You need to at least be able to code your whole blog and create your own WordPress themes. Birgit Having a good understanding about coding is not enough? Dave You need more than an understanding. I used to think you could understand it without doing it. But I have noticed in others who did know how to prototype their own ideas that they were able to take it further and really physically live what it is they are doing. The prototyping was not for production, but for testing and exploration. To really understand what you are trying to achieve, you need to go through enough passes of resolution and fidelity in order to say that you understand it. It is not coding to do, it is coding to explore.

You teach interaction design. What must the education for an interaction designer consist of?

Dave Malouf: As a foundation, visual communication, computation and the base of knowledge I mentioned before. But then it is just practice, iteration over and over again of clinical practice, of studio practice of that along different mediums . It is important to see the difference of doing something for mobile versus services versus web as well as healthcare versus enterprise versus consumer. You need to gain those experiences through the course of an education.

How long does the education of an interaction designer take?

Dave Malouf: When I was at the Interaction in South America (http://www.interaction-southamerica.org/2010/en) my talk was “It is a lifetime”. It’s education for a lifetime. It is like your product is never ready, you have to cut bait and go. It is the same thing, you are not done. When I look at the talk by Richard Buchanan and the related social media conversations that were going on, I became overwhelmed by the realization of how much more there is to learn even though I have been at this for twenty years.

It mirrors the spirit within the IxDA community – no matter what level of experience, everybody is still learning and open, nobody is judgmental. I love that.

Dave Malouf: During the talk I was twittering with someone who is much more senior than me, has more years of experience, and a much greater depth of knowledge. He wrote something, I forget the exact opening, “But this is why I want to teach this, this and this”. I wrote back to him “Teach me”. He wrote back to me “Look, we have a lot to teach each other”. It was very sweet and nice camaraderie, but that is the spirit of this organization. We can put someone like Richard Buchanan on the stage, he is older and wiser and deeper in some ways.

But we can also put Aza Raskin up there, who is 27 years old and he has so much depth even considering his young age. Also look at someone like Whitney Hess (whitneyhess.com) who despite her young age, has her own strong point of view and her own clear voice- that is just great. It is balancing and a reflection of what we applaud within our community. The IxDA is my home, the place where I live. It is great, that it is here.

Can you compare the education of an interaction designer in different parts of the world, e.g. between the US and Europe? Do schools exchange knowledge and work together on some level?

Dave Malouf: Some schools can work together. I don’t think it is very common.

Why do you think it is not, knowing that the community is so collaborative?

Dave Malouf: For me one problem is that I am on a quarter system and most other schools are around semesters. I start early January and my quarter is over in the middle of March. They start at the end of January and go all the way to June. It’s timing differences that make it difficult, but also budgets and different styles of education among the schools are issues. Sometimes they are not even important differences, it is just studio based versus not studio based.

Meeting twice a week versus having one studio per week. Intellectual property can become an issue as well. Working on a collaborative project together with different schools and cooperation’s. What if something comes out of it? Who owns it? It can become a touchy point. However, there are a lot of conversations that peers have together, lots of hallway conversations among academics and educators. But your first point was about the differences between Europe and the United States. It’s now a school-by-school thing. A few years ago I would have been confident in generalizing about the differences between Europe and the US.

Now I’m not sure that is the case. Today I don’t see a lot of difference let’s say between SVA (School of Visual Arts | www.schoolofvisualarts.edu) and CIID (Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design | ciid.dk) from theoretical and philosophical perspective, but SVA and CMU (Carnegie Mellon University | www.cmu.edu) are miles apart in some ways.

Can you be specific?

Dave Malouf: One difference is the MFA, which has to have some kind of fine art history component to it, versus the CMU program of Master of Design versus the CIID Master of Art and DELF (www.tudelft.nl) Master of Science. There is a big difference between CIID and DELF towards CMU and Potsdam (www.uni-potsdam.de). I think there is as much difference within Europe and within the United States as there is differences between them. But one of the things that has given me insight about the differences is actually the student competition that’s been running for the last two years. What was really clear last year was the quality that came from programs like CIID.

There were two finalists from that program out of four or five submissions in total. Compare that to some of the other schools that were more HCI oriented and that didn’t make it to the finals last year. But just twelve months later, Michigan’s HCI program is in the finals. It shows that there is no one-way to teach and to create valuable future workers. Everybody is doing good work. I can see a difference between how the different schools do work, how the students are doing work and how they are taught process , methodologies etc. That’s going to come out in a competition when people see the results. At this point it is going to be really interesting. But there are also some growing issues among design education in general. There is too much to educate.

Too much to educate and too many processes, methodologies, content and tools? Digital brought a whole new world into our professional lives.

Dava Malouf: What we just did with ruler and paper we have to learn five tools now, just to be an industrial designer. It takes time to learn each of those. But then we want to be method based as opposed to tools based. Anyone can learn a tool on his/her own but you still got to take the time. Yes, I don’t need to teach you how to use illustrator, but you still have to have the time to do it. The economies of scale, the business of education is not set up this way to really accommodate this and the business of continuing education doesn’t account for it well enough.

Conferences don’t really have enough depth to do what we need to do, the continuing education that we need for our lives. The book industry is problematic and further the way that industry has changed in order to tighten their own budgets, means that there is no formal industry continuing education like there used to be in some industries. It is expected after four years of colleague that you are what used to be a mid-level designer. You have to hit the ground running at full speed.

And I think that is completely unfair at this point. I personally didn’t face that. Birgit How do you address this as a professor? Dave The students see that and the really good students step up. I am just the channel that tries to recognize those students and give them the outlet to do that. At Savannah Colleague of Art and Design one of the ways that we do that is our strong tie to industry. My students who are here at the conference have probably been through four or five sponsored projects through their four years of education. We don’t force internships. A part of me doesn’t like that but a part of me likes it because it is really about initiative.

As an individual you’ve got have the initiative to go out and get the internship on your own. We have a lot of that self-initiative. We have a culture at Savannah of collaboration and cooperation. The students rely on each other a lot. When I started teaching two years ago that really surprised me. It is not competitive, it is not competitive at all. It really is cooperative. There are moments of competition, such as students winning prizes or whatever, but even then, my students here are all about supporting their peer who is in the competition.

And when they are in school or in the studio it is like “I know you are a really good Illustrator what are the application commands for performing these actions?” and the person gives it to them and they know, it will come back around. I didn’t get that in my studio when I was working. And I really admire that. I think it is partly a generational thing. Birgit What is the average of age of your students? Dave I teach undergraduate students, so bachelor students. They come to me probably around 19 / 20 years old and they stay with me till around 22, I’ll get them for about 3 years of their 4 years education.

What educational options are available for people being older, lets say in their mid thirties, wanting to study interaction design?

Dave Malouf: There are graduate programs. I almost thought about going to graduate school when I was 37. Wow, you really have to look at the cost/benefit situation and understand your life style. The school I was going to go to was probably around a $50.000 a year commitment and then I needed to subtract my income that I wouldn’t be making. I think I was including that in that price and it became a 150.000 Dollar investment. Was I going to make enough afterwards? I decided no.

Dave, thank you very much for the interview!

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/12296862[/vimeo]

Senior Interactive Developer Jens Franke zeigt in der WEAVE 03.2010, wie Sie eine iPhone App für das iPad konvertieren und anpassen können, was es beim Interface-Design der beiden Geräte für Unterschiede gibt und wie Sie einen RSS-Reader mit Detail-Ansicht und Video-Player sowie Slip-Screen programmieren.

Denn Quellcode zum Tutorial können Sie hier herunter laden.

Interessante Links zum Thema iPad-App-Entwicklung finden Sie hier:

STARTPUNKT APPLE
http://developer.apple.com/ipad/sdk/index.html

iPAD PROGRAMMING GUIDE
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/General/Conceptual/iPadProgrammingGuide
/Introduction/Introduction.html

iPAD HUMAN INTERFACE GUIDELINES
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/General/Conceptual/iPadHIG/Introduction
/Introduction.html

UNIVERSAL APPLICATIONS
http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/resources/introductiontouniversalapps.pdf

AUSBLICK AUF DAS iPHONE OS 4.0
www.apple.com/iphone/preview-iphone-os/

CORE TEXT PROGRAMMING GUIDE
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/documentation/StringsTextFonts/Conceptual/
CoreText_Programming/Introduction/Introduction.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40005533

iPAD-VERSION VON MAIL
www.apple.com/ipad/features/mail.html

TouchXML
http://code.google.com/p/touchcode/wiki/TouchXML

KissXML
http://code.google.com/p/kissxml/

json-framework
http://code.google.com/p/json-framework/

TouchJSON
http://code.google.com/p/touchcode/wiki/TouchJSON

ASYNCHRONES LADEN VON BILDERN FÜR UITableView

http://developer.apple.com/IPhone/library/samplecode/LazyTableImages/Introduction/Intro.html
>> Ein gutes Beispiel dafür, das asynchrones Laden vieler Bilder mittels der Klasse NSURLConnection Interfaces nicht zum Stocken bringt

INFOS ZUM STREAMING VON VIDEOS AUF DEM iPAD
https://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/technotes/tn2010/tn2224.html
https://developer.apple.com/iphone/library/technotes/tn2010/tn2224.html#SETTINGSFILES
http://digitalcontentproducer.com/videoencodvd/revfeat/encoding_apple_ipad_0420/index.html

VIMEO-CHANNEL ÜBER NEUE INTERACTIONSFORMEN “New ways of interaction”
http://vimeo.com/channels/newwaysofinteraction

VIDEO MAGAZINE DEMOS FÜR TABLETS
http://vimeo.com/10630568
http://vimeo.com/10676843
http://vimeo.com/10204353
http://vimeo.com/10207926
http://vimeo.com/10280094
http://vimeo.com/10253564
http://www.wired.com/video/wired-magazine-on-the-ipad/66775419001
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyXvLnxyXk

BLOGS
http://iphoneincubator.com/blog/
http://cocoawithlove.com/
www.iphoneflow.com
www.cimgf.com/

FOREN
http://stackoverflow.com/
www.iphonedevsdk.com
http://devforums.apple.com/index.jspa
www.osxentwicklerforum.de/index.php

Stefan Wölwer, Professor für Interaction Design an der HAWK Hildesheim, kennt die Hochschul-Szene in Deutschland ziemlich genau. In der WEAVE 03.2010 berichtet er über die Anforderungen, die Hochschulen, Unis und ihre Studierenden erfüllen müssen. Dazu hat er eine Linkliste zusammen gestellt, die – chronologisch sortiert nach ihrer Entstehung – die wichtigsten Interface-Design-Kurse Deutschlands sowie die wichtigsten internationalen Studiengänge zeigt. Wer’s lieber geografisch hat: Stefan Wölwer ist auch gerade beim Aufbau einer entsprechenden Google Map…

1979 Tisch School of the Arts , New York City, Interactive Telecommunications Program
>>> http://itp.nyu.edu/itp

1989 Royal College of Arts, London, Computer Related Design
>>> www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentID=161712&CategoryID=36692

1993 MA Design for Interactive Media, Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts, London
>>> www.cea.mdx.ac.uk/?location_id=45

1993 Digitale Klasse, UdK Berlin
>>> www.digital.udk-berlin.de

1995 Studienrichtung »Media System Design (MSD)« Hochschule Darmstadt
>>> www.fbmedia.h-da.de/

1995 Studienangebot Pathway Interface Design, Merz Akademie
>>> www.merz-akademie.de/cms/index.php?id=11

1996 Diplomstudium Medientechnik und -design, FH Hagenberg
>>> http://interaction.fh-hagenberg.at/

1996 Studienangebot Digitale Medien, FH Mainz
>>> www.fh-mainz.de/gestaltung/kommunikationsdesign/index.html

1996 Vertiefungsschwerpunkt Interaction Design, Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal
>>> www.gestaltung.hs-magdeburg.de/CMS_NEU/cms/index.php?id=54

1998 Diplomstudium Mediengestaltung, Kunstuniversität Linz
>>> www.ufg.ac.at

1999 Studium Digital Media, Hochschule Ulm
>>> www.hs-ulm.de/dm

1999 Studiengang Mediengestaltung, Bauhaus Universität Weimar
>>> www.uni-weimar.de/cms/universitaet/fakultaet-medien.html

1999 BA Digitale Medien, Hochschulen des Bundesland Bremen
>>> www.digitale-medien-bremen.de

1999 BA Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien, Studienrichtung Interface Design, Merz Akademie
>>> www.merz-akademie.de/cms/index.php?id=11

2001 Erste Pilotklasse Interaction-Design, Züricher Hochschule der Künste
>>> http://iad.zhdk.ch/

2001 Studiengang Mediendesign, Duale Hochschule BW Ravensburg
>>> http://mediendesign-ravensburg.de/

2001 Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_Design_Institute_Ivrea

2001 Studiengang Informationsdesign, Hochschule der Medien, Stuttgart
>>>http://www.hdm-stuttgart.de

2002 MA Digitale Medien, Hochschulen des Bundesland Bremen
>>> www.digitale-medien-bremen.de

2003 MA Digitale Medien, BA Medientechnik und –design, FH Hagenberg
>>> http://interaction.fh-hagenberg.at/

2003 MA Creative Practice for Narrative Environments, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design
>>> www.narrative-environments.com/

2003 BA/MA Interface Design, FH Potsdam
>>> http://interface.fh-potsdam.de

2004 Studiengang Mediendesign, RFH Köln
>>> www.rfh-koeln.de/studium/studiengaenge/wirtschaft-recht/mediendesign/

2004 Studiengang Multimedia | VR Design, Burg Giebichenstein Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle
>>> www.burg-halle.de/multimedia-vr-design-studium.html

2005 Studienschwerpunkt Interface Design, Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel
>>> www.muthesius-kunsthochschule.de/de/design/industriedesign/interface-design/index.php

2006 Studiengang Interaction Design, IUAV University of Venice
>>> www.interaction-venice.com/

2006 BA Zeitbasierte und Interaktive Medien, Kunstuniversität Linz
>>> www.ufg.ac.at/Bachelorstudium.1678.0.html

2007 BA Mediendesign, Macromedia Fachhochschulen
>>> www.macromedia-fachhochschule.de/studium/studiengaenge/digitale-medienproduktion/mediendesign.html

2007 Gründung Swiss Design Institut for Finance and Banking [SDFB]
>>> www.sdfb.ch

2007 BA Interaktionsgestaltung, HfG Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd
>>> www.hfg-gmuend.de/studiengaenge/ig/index.html oder (aktueller) http://ig.hfg-gmuend.de/

2008 BA Interaktive Medien, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg
>>> www.studiengang-interaktive-medien.de/

2008 Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design
>>> http://dkds.ciid.dk/

2008 MA Interface Design, , Muthesius Kunsthochschule Kiel
>>> www.muthesius-kunsthochschule.de/de/design/industriedesign/interface-design/index.php

2008 BA Intermediales Design FH Trier
>>> www.fh-trier.de/index.php?id=8598

2009 MA Medien und Design, Macromedia Fachhochschulen
>>> www.macromedia-fachhochschule.de/master.html

2009 MA Digital Arts und MSc Interactive Media, FH Hagenberg
>>> http://interaction.fh-hagenberg.at/

2009 / 2010 Universität Siegen – Human Computer Interaction (HCI)
>>> http://hci.wineme.fb5.uni-siegen.de/index.php?id=de&sid=startseite

2010 MA Game Design, Cologne Game Lab
>>> http://colognegamelab.de/

2010 BA Interaction Design, Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule
>>> www.btk-fh.de/index.php?id=20

2010 BA Mediendesign, Hochschule Hof
>>> www.fh-hof.de/Mediendesign.2982.0.html

2010 BA/MA Gestaltung, Studienrichtung Digitale Medien, HAWK FH Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen
>>> www.hawk-hhg.de/gestaltung/interactiondesign

2010 BA Medienkonzeption / HFU Hochschule Furtwangen Universität
>>> www.dm.hs-furtwangen.de/dm.php?template=home

2010 Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana, Manno (CH) – Master of Advanced Studies in Interaction Design
>>> www.maind.supsi.ch/

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/11551658[/vimeo]

Eigentlich genügen schon ein Haufen Papier und Stifte, um erste Prototypen zu gestalten – welche Mittel und Wege der iterativen Konzeption mit Prototypen es noch gibt, haben Thomas Gläser, Markus Jaritz und Philipp Sackl von envis precisely in WEAVE 06.2009 beschrieben.

What 50 pounds of clay can teach you about design
http://www.lifeclever.com/what-50-pounds-of-clay-can-teach-you-about-design/

Handmade 3D-Paperprototype
http://www.joelswanson.net/diorama/index.html

Prototyping in der Enzyklopädie von interaction-design.org
http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/prototyping.html

Über Prototyping und iterative Entwicklung
http://www.usabilis.com/gb/usability-engineering/prototyping.htm

Physical sketching
http://www.slideshare.net/petebennett/beatbearing-sketching-vs-prototyping

Design Prototyping – bringing wireframes
http://www.slideshare.net/goodfriday/design-prototyping-bringing-wireframes-to-life

Build Confidence with Prototypes
http://requirements.seilevel.com/blog/2006/06/build-confidence-with-prototypes.html

About Paper Prototyping
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/paperprototyping

I love Wireframes
http://wireframes.tumblr.com

Just build it – html Prototyping and Agile Development
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/just_build_it_html_prototyping_and_agile_development