From small apps to large business systems, smartphones to intelligent environments, wearables to ambient installations, and virtual reality to augmented reality – interactive computing technologies have become part of the fabric of everyday life. This module will help you on your way to becoming an effective interaction designer. You’ll learn about interaction design and how to design interactive products that offer good user experiences. You’ll learn about the many factors that influence user experience, the theories that underlie good interaction design, and the methods and techniques designers use to create effective interactive products.
Why are some interactive products so popular? How do you create products that everybody wants? One of the fundamental things you will learn in this module is the importance of user-centred design.
You will learn the value of moving away from your desk and ‘stepping out into the world’ to involve potential users in your early design ideas for interactive products. It is too easy to assume that others think, feel and behave the same way as we, the designer or developer, do. It is essential to consider the diversity among users and their different perspectives. Getting their feedback will help you avoid errors and misunderstandings you may not have considered. Involving users in the process is vital to creating great products and makes good business sense: after all, who wants to buy a bad product?
With our guidance, through hands-on activities, you’ll work through the design process on a project of your choice. This will include hands-on activities and form part of the tutor-marked assignments (TMAs). Each TMA addresses one stage in the design life cycle. By the end of the module, you will have practical experience of the whole life cycle through your project. You will acquire practical skills to equip you with the tools to analyse, design and evaluate interactive products. You will develop skills that will be important to you in a variety of employment settings – whether working as a developer as part of a large software development team, as a partner in a small start-up, or in some other role involved in the managing of, or decision making around interactive products that others will use.
The module uses the international best-selling book Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction as a reference text and is organised in four blocks:
Block 1 – Introduction and overview
What is interaction design? This block conveys the fundamental idea of what we mean by interaction design and the importance of being user-centred. You will begin to reflect on what makes some designs usable and satisfying – and others not – and get hands-on experience of the design process. An essential principle of our approach to interaction design is that there is diversity among users – not only in terms of their physical characteristics and capabilities, but also of their cognitive and sensory characteristics.
Block 2 – Requirements
Who are the users and what do they want? Defining the requirements for an interactive product requires us to know the user’s characteristics. We also need to be aware of the user’s context – both in terms of their physical environment and the activities they are engaged in. This block studies a range of requirement gathering approaches, including talking to users, observational methods, technology probes, and more. You will also learn to use tools and techniques such as developing personas and scenarios to help you share information with the stakeholders (the team, the users, the customer) and effectively communicate the requirements for an interactive product.
Block 3 – Design
Designing is about balancing the requirements. It involves thinking through the underlying idea for the interactive product and the more concrete, physical aspects. This block tackles all these things. You will learn to use reflective tools to help you work out and communicate the main idea for a design, including what users can do with it, and how they will experience it. We discuss a range of interface types, from more traditional screen-based forms of interaction to mobile, wearable, haptic and other interface types, and you will learn and use a range of prototyping methods and tools.
Block 4 – Evaluation
Evaluating an interactive product is essential to ensure that it meets the requirements or to identify ways it can be improved to meet the requirements. This block presents the knowledge and techniques necessary to evaluate, including ethical considerations when evaluating with users; techniques and tips for observing users, and asking experts and users; and how to decide when to conduct field studies and when to use lab studies. You will learn how to present your findings and to reflect on the need for iteration of parts of the design life cycle.
The assessment for this module is structured so that you can work on a problem you choose, work through the various processes, and iterate through the design life cycle studied in the block as you progress in the module.
This module builds on study skills and subject knowledge from previous study at OU levels 1 and 2.
You'll ideally be a competent user of computer technology with an interest in good design.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
We also provide physical:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying TM356 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Interaction design and the user experience (TM356) starts once a year – in October.
It will next start in October 2026.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2027.
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