Main conference presentation

Interaction design style

Christopher Fahey

Monday March 26 2007, 9:30 - 10:15AM

At the 2003 IA Summit keynote address, Stewart Brand seemed to dismiss "style" as a fast-moving and ephemeral approach to designing systems. Similarly, many information architects and user experience designers draw a sharp distinction between style and substance, ultimately viewing style as inappropriate as a basis for IA/UXD solutions.

Certainly style is often associated with trends and fashions, where change occurs solely for the sake of change itself, with not a care for what actually works.

But I will argue that, in fact, style is (and always has been) a powerful design tool that not only helps us communicate efficiently to users, clients, and other designers, but also acts as a rich resource for innovation and solutions to new and old problems. Style is a self-correcting system; it is a pattern language; it bridges branding and functionality; it is, in fact, the bridge between best practices and innovation.

Historically style has always been a key influence on great design. This talk will discuss how style awareness is a core aspect of "design thinking", the emerging concept of how the design process is becoming more and more integral to the development of business models and product strategies. It will provide a historical overview of how style has affected the practice of design in other fields, from writing to architecture to computer science, and it will show how interaction design, too, can benefit from a consciousness of emerging trends in interaction design style. In fact, drawing on fresh new movements and trends in interaction design style is how many of us already work, whether we realize it or not.