Thoughts on Interaction Design

Thoughts on Interaction Design explores the theory behind the field of Interaction Design in a new way. It aims to provide a better definition of Interaction Design that encompasses the intellectual facets of the field and the particular methods used by practitioners in their day-to-day experiences. It also attempts to provide Interaction Designers with the vocabulary necessary to justify their existence to other team members. The book positions Interaction Design in a way that emphasizes the intellectual facets of the discipline. It discusses the role of language, argument, and rhetoric in the design of products, services, and systems. It examines various academic approaches to thinking about Design, and concludes that the Designer is a liberal artist left to infuse empathy in technologically driven products. The book also examines the tools and techniques used by practitioners. These include methods for structuring large quantities of data, ways of thinking about users, and approaches for thinking about human behavior as it unfolds over time. Finally, it introduces the idea of Interaction Design as an integral facet of the business development process.

• First book to provide a solid definition and framework for the booming field of interaction design, finally giving designers the justification needed to prove their essential role on every development team
• Provides designers with tools they need to operate effectively in the workplace without compromising their goals: making useable, useful, and desirable products
• Outlines process, theory, practice, and challenges of interaction design – intertwined with real world stories from a variety of perspectives

Jon Kolko is the Founder and Director of Austin Center for Design, a progressive educational institution teaching interaction design and social entrepreneurship. His work focuses on bringing the power of design to social enterprises, with an emphasis on entrepreneurship and large-scale industry disruption. He has worked extensively with both startups and Fortune 500 clients, and he has a breadth of experience in consumer electronics, mobility, web services, supply chain management, demand planning, and customer-relationship management. He has worked with big-brand clients such as AT&T, HP, Nielsen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ford, IBM, Palm and other leaders of the Global 2000, as well as with startups like Socialware, Spredfast, Vast, Attivio, and more.


Jon has held positions of Executive Director of Design Strategy at Thinktiv, a venture accelerator in Austin, Texas, and both Principal Designer and Associate Creative Director roles at frog design, a global innovation firm. He was also a Professor of Interaction and Industrial Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where he was instrumental in building both the Interaction and Industrial Design undergraduate and graduate programs. Jon has also held the role of Director for the Interaction Design Association (IxDA), and Editor-in-Chief of interactions magazine, published by the ACM.


Jon is the author of the book Thoughts on Interaction Design, published by Morgan Kaufmann, Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioner's Guide to the Methods and Theory of Synthesis, published by Oxford University Press, and Wicked Problems: Problems Worth Solving, published by Austin Center for Design.