In this paper the questions `what is interaction design ´ and `what does interaction design mean to interaction designers´, are posed. We both look at the way people from within university/academia discuss interaction design as well as how people who label themselves interaction designers understand the area and describe their own practice. The empirical material presented is based on an interview study and a series of workshops. In the data three perspectives on interaction design emerged. This study illuminates that people who label themselves interaction designers assume a more holistic view on their endeavour for making interactive systems usable, they also describe their practice as being more progressive- and design oriented rather than construction- or usability oriented. In their work, respondents report on having acted almost as if they were project leaders, having an insight into the whole design process. Interaction designers build a repertoire of solutions and methods are reused.

This paper presents examples of different aspects of design in a disability context with the aim of revealing some of its fundamentals. It particularly emphasizes situated aspects of research: the need for being there, with the users in their daily lives – where the action is.

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One of the objectives for conducting research in the field of design is to increase the knowledge about the design processes and that could to lead to more satisfactory products. In this paper we will look at some examples that seem to have had influence from research. Some of these examples show success and others were not so successful. This is a very complex and large field and the ambition here is not to cover this in a `scientific' way but in a `designerly' way, i.e. heavily constrained and at the same time with an optimistic approach. Constrained because we will only investigate a few examples and only in some aspects. It is optimistic since the hope is that you, the reader, will find this interesting and maybe even useful. The examples are mostly from the field of interaction design and range from case studies, research papers and a radio program. But the results cover a larger field. In more detail this paper discusses these examples with the help of the concepts of `design space' and `constraints'. Design space is here used to denote all the possible design solutions. Constraints are sometimes looked at as something negative, something that prevents projects from being successful. This may of course be the case sometimes, but more often constraints should be looked at as gifts from heaven. A good constraint can save lots of unnecessary work. There are different kinds of constraints and Gedenryd (1998) identifies three different categories namely rigid, somewhat flexible and completely flexible. Legislation is an example of a rigid constraint while client-imposed constraints are regarded as somewhat flexible. Designer-imposed constraints are completely flexible. It is of vital importance to have a deep understanding of the different constraints since only rigid ...

This thesis focuses on the different aspects of role-play as an approach for user-centred design of mobile information technology (IT). This is done through development of a sequence of workshops and reflecting on the outcome. The motivation for the thesis has been to develop an understanding of the important conditions for involving end-users in the process of understanding user needs and exploring requirements for mobile IT. The need for new methods to understand mobile IT and the focus on user involvement in the traditions of participatory design and user-centred design established the background for the work. Most of the workshops were carried out in a hospital context. The overall research approach has been to work iteratively by carrying out a set of smaller studies, so-called workshops. The research design was flexible, characterized by a design that evolves, develops and unfolds, as the research proceeds. The current state of the knowledge on role-play called for a qualitative approach with a focus on understanding important issues concerning user role-plays. The overall research subject of this thesis is: Develop understanding of key premises for using role-play with low-fidelity prototyping to involve endusers in exploring user needs and requirements for mobile IT.

In this paper, we examine the ideas behind and reactions to a prototype online tool designed, in-house, for an art college’s interaction design department. The web-based prototype, the Digital Scrapbook, was initially intended as a tool for tutors to oversee their students ’ work. However, our ongoing discussions with the department’s members indicate that it is more interesting to its target audience for a variety of other reasons, including its role in design inspiration; group representation and collaboration; and as a repository for documenting the creative process. We speculate on the reasons behind this by further reflecting on the reactions to the tool. We come to the conclusion that members of the department value the Digital Scrapbook because it is seen to reflect the processional character of design. That is, we suggest the system is seen as promising because it reveals the often messy, unintended and meandering routes design can follow. In closing, we suggest how we might support further ways of displaying design’s processional character and discuss the broader implications of displaying collective processes. Author Keywords Design, design practice, collective creativity, processional.

This paper explores how the two concepts of representing and constituting are used in relation to design practice. The terms representing and representation are often used to describe the relation a model or prototype has to the end result. In this exploratory paper we investigate the potential impact of a change in terms, from represent to constitute. One inspiration is the writing of John Stewart on the post-semiotic approach to communication. The examples used in the paper are from practice rooted in both traditional industrial design and co-design. I argue that it is important to see design work as a constituting practice rather than a representative one. Supporting this standpoint are both the fact that the future does not yet exist and therefore is difficult to represent, and the strong argument that knowledge is created in dialogue and constituted in action. Thus, when we stop interpreting design matter as representations, design can matter to the world.