Facilitating Interaction between Interaction Designers and Software Engineers

Abstract: This paper discusses a ‘common language ’ that facilitates the understanding between interaction designers and software engineers through a case study. The target of this study is a special digital device called ‘mixe’ for recording memories of a trip. The notable feature is that the pictures of the landscape and the user’s face are taken simultaneously using two integrated digital cameras. Moreover, a sketch can be drawn alongside these pictures so that vivid impression of the trip is recorded. We focus on the later part of design process, where the concept design of the artifact were presented by interaction designers and software engineers implement the system. The designer team conceived the concept of mixe and described it by diagrams and movies. The engineer team asked for detailed explanations of the movies and iterated prototyping. The movies were ambiguous as specifications of the software. As the engineers asked for explanations, the designers realized that the more detailed design was needed. Thus, mutual critiques on the intermediate products made by designers and engineers, which indicate the misalignments of their understanding, turn out to move forwards the design process. The most effective medium for communication between designers and engineers turns out to be a conceptual illustration called ‘world model. ’ It represents what the system offers a user—the mental model for the system. The engineers could view the illustration as a data model as well, and used it to define the basic data structure of th