In a Nutshell

Interaction Design: The Cutting Edge of Usability

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In a Nutshell
It's an ongoing iterative process. Most projects seem to focus on these main areas:

Scoping	Gather requirements, clarify design process, leverage the legacy, identify business case, workflow
Synthesis	Storyboarding, information architecture, use cases, mock-ups, brainstorming, usage profiles
Design	Wireframe modeling, navigation structure, interactive behaviors, design guidelines, stylesheets, page templates, clip art, prototypes
Communication	Ongoing documentation, liaison with business unit, customers & team members, make presentations to stakeholders, user guide, online help
Sometimes (if there's budget) this can also include		Usability Testing

The baseline is to *get things under control. Try to simplify redundant and large scale maintenance tasks by conforming to established best practices and using efficiency tools like templates, reusable modules, CSS etc. Make strong use of documentation as a vehicle for good process. Advocate for clear allocation of design team responsibilities. The other major challenge is to allow for creative flexibility*. Liaise constantly with technical and business stakeholders in a "consulting and advocacy" role. Propose innovative design solutions that are responsive to expressed desires, appropriate to documented needs and considerate of practical limitations.

Origins

Interaction Design is the point of integration for several disciplines. The major influences come from diverse backgrounds.

Graphic Arts
Most of the interactive designers that I've met originally came from the visual arts: illustrators, animators, print design. It figures. In the screen-centered environment we tend to think of "user interface" design as a graphical skill.

Documentation
Mandated to record functional specifications, tech writers are usually most interested in creating accessible, understandable "end user guidelines", training, online help, etc. Because of our organizational and communication skills, we are often the de facto usability advocates on the development team.

Marketing
In the technical development environment, artists and documentation writers traditionally carry little weight. However, the Business Unit champions the customer relationship, knows the customer best and is a strong lobbyist for "usability".

Behavioral Sciences
Cognitive studies probably acccount for most of the credentialed "usability lab" folks. Although few in number, they can be exceptionally influential, bringing academic rigor, testing methodologies and professional credibility to the mix.

Quality Assurance
Product testers are the "tecchie" version of the behavioral scientist. QA is generally more concerned with functional conformance than customer satisfaction, but - because of our process-orientation - we are also vigorous champions for "best practices" and standards.

True enough to form, my background includes strong graphics (I had been a commerical artist and animator) and documentation/training (a degree in educational media). I've done a lot of marketing presentations for new media ventures and roll-outs. I honed my writing, editing & librarying skills as a Documentation Manager and Technical Writer.

How It All Fits Together
Interaction Design has a lot of overlapping grey areas, but I believe that this captures the essential big issues and relationships.
the Focus	the Question	the Results
Concept	Does it fulfill the business needs?	Functional Requirements Competitive Analysis Preliminary Site Evaluation Workflow model

Structure	Does it work efficiently?	Design Specifications Sitemap Information Architecture Glossary

Behavior	Is it easy to use?	Best Practices Navigation standards Storyboards Wireframe site models

Interface	Does it look right?	Style Guide CSS Stylesheets Graphics & templates Page Comps


Customer	Do your customers want to use it?	Customer Assistence Online Help System Personalization Profiles Wizards

Process	Does your team work effectively?	Team Roles Use Cases Prototyping & Modeling Usability Assessment

		Click to view an example document

Is it an Art or a Science?
The Customer Experience practice already embraces a broad umbrella of activity: graphics, navigation & structure, behavior, online help and personalization. Within all that, there are also two major approaches to usability.

The Interaction Designer is a Creative person with Proactive approach who Innovates in a Studio environment making Prototypes & Models is good at Proposing Solutions through Skill & Talent The Interaction Designer delivers immediate solutions. Many development teams look to them as a "short cut" to market.		The Usability Engineer is an Academic person with Analytical approach who Evaluates in a Laboratory environment making Tests & Reports is good at Identifying Issues through Rigor & Methodology The Usability Engineer is more likely to identify customer needs, data and behavior that have somehow been missed.
With appropriate backgound information the Interaction Designer can look at a site and come up with a fair number of viable design improvements quickly. Often that's all the client wants. But there are also strong arguments for Usability Analysis. We now expect our sites to handle a more intimate relationship with the customer. We have the tools to harvest the customer behavior, organize the business information and deliver personalization. The Usability Engineer should be able to identify things you've missed. But you'll probably still need an Interaction Designer to come up with creative solutions.
Most production environments lump the two schools of effort together, even though they are actually very different. You rarely see this sort of rigorous separation of responsibilities. The "usability expert" is often expected to wear both hats, providing neutral analysis and creative advocacy. Sometimes that can get a little confusing.