Interaction Styles: An Aesthetic Sense of Direction in Interface Design

In architecture and industrial design, the concept of style plays a major role in education as a way of establishing an understanding of visual design expression. In this article we claim that interaction design can benefit greatly from a similar application of style. It can provide designers with strong visions and a sense of direction in designing new interfaces. In particular, the focus is on solid user interface design (i.e., products with small displays and a limited number of keys) because of the tight coupling of interaction and industrial design. Style theory is explored and an experiment is reported that introduces interaction-style thinking in a user-centered design process in industry. Further, a discussion about parallels between our approach to interaction design and the dominant styles of the twentieth-century, Scandinavian design in particular, is provided.