Interactive Design

Definitions

Interactive Design is is user centred design based around creating an experience from its use. It involves the design of a behaviour of a product, system or artifact in response to its users. Interaction designers work in many areas, including software interfaces, (business) information systems, internet, physical products, environments, services, and systems which may combine many of these.

Examples

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

An online gaming craze brought about in 2005, World of Warcraft is an enormous online 'community' of gamers, each replacing their real life with that of a fictional medievil/fantasy character! It has been well documented that the experience from World of Warcraft has been found so entrancing by users, that babies and children have gone without food due to parents being glued to their screen for long, uninterrupted hours.

http://www.navman.com.au/

Another example of experience design, the Navman (like the Tom Tom and Garmond devices) are a high tech driver, expensive alternative to a street directory. The user experience is this case is generated through not only graphic, but spoken word allowing the driver to hear comprehensive instructions from the user interface, making the trip (experience) easy and stress free (apparently)