Information Design Lab

Microinteractions Toolkit for UI/UX Designers

One day workshop held on 7^th December, 2016 at IndiaHCI 2016 at IIT Bombay.
Conducted by Venkatesh Rajamanickam, Ruchi Ookalkar

Details

Microinteractions are commonly defined as the smallest unit of user interaction boiled down to a single use case. They are product use cases each focused on a single task. First described by Dan Saffer in his book by the same name, microinteractions are the task-based and goal-oriented engagement details that users have with interfaces that can inform, enhance, supply context, prevent errors and provide delightful experiences.

It is said that features bring users to a product, but it is the details that keep them there. With a huge explosion of consumer oriented internet applications, both on the computer and mobile devices, there is a relentless focus on how to engage users with the product and how to provide them the best possible experience. Details of the user experience are seen as the key differentiator in a competitive market. Microinteractions are small, subtle, fleeting, yet incredibly important, and are often the difference between a product you love and a product you merely tolerate.

Taking the basic framework from Saffer’s Microinteractions, but going well beyond it, we have analysed hundreds of microinteractions and thousands of use cases to arrive at six functional categories. We have distilled them to come up with a kit that contain general principles, use cases and design strategies that serve as essential tools to systematically identify use cases you may encounter and to design effective microinteractions for them. The one-day workshop will focus on hands on activities to identify use cases, apply principles and design microinteractions. A key takeaway of the workshop will be the microinterations toolkit (which is not publicly available) and the hands on experience in using it.

Participants
The workshop is tailored for UI/UX designers and project managers.

Toolkit
Toolkit for Designing Microinteractions (PDF)

Program

1. Introduction (Slides 1, Slides 2):
   Introduction to microinteractions and their use.
2. Using the Toolkit:
   A short introduction to the toolkit, followed by group activity to identify microinteractions.
3. Designing Microinteractions using the Toolkit (Design Problems):
   Designing microinteraction solutions to problem statements spread across six categories.

Contact

You can reach Prof. Venkatesh Rajamanickam via email