Dan Saffer’s Carpe Diem keynote at Interaction 09 suggested multiple ways interaction designers can grow as a profession.
- Our beliefs and our attention are the same fact. –William James
- We should not just be considered problem solvers. Design is also about invention. We are not just janitors mopping up the problems of business.
- How can we be more aware of what we are doing?
- Resist the defining interaction design discussions. Each individual develops his own framing of how to solve problems. We need to move between the frames.
- There are no best practices. Once you change context, you can quickly turn a best practice into a bad idea.
- Instead of design thinking, let’s think and make. Design details that what makes things work. Details are where we gain respect.
- Don’t forget that for most, the interface is the system. A good interaction design wrapped up in bad presentation designs can result in a bad result. Aesthetics matter.
- Emotion matter. Logical thinking is effective but we need emotions to engage people. Sometimes it benefits us to be more like artists than like scientists.
- Steal from other disciplines. Movies and architecture.
- Look to the past for inspiration. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
- We need to make interaction design stars.
- Stop waiting for permission. Typically in a service industry –get requirements and constraints. We don’t have to do that. Can find own problems to solve.
- You already know what you need to know to design the future.
- Don’t fear storms –they help you learn how to sail your ship.