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Design Objective - Interactionary

Prepare for and compete in a 10-minute, live, on stage design competition.

The goal is both to educate about the design process and entertain.

Marks are awarded for process, teamwork, user focus, and final design.

Understand/Observe - Interactionary

During the competition:
• The team read the problem definition.

• The Architects stated assumptions and constraints of the problem.

• The Surveyor and Foreman polled the audience for goals with which to write persona. Brand attributes were also identified.

Visualize - Interactionary

During the competition:
• The Architects brainstormed individually for a brief period and then came together to share and build on ideas.

Evaluate/Refine - Interactionary

During the competition:
• The Surveyor and Foreman gave feedback on designs from the perspective of the brand attributes and persona.

• A concept direction was selected and the design was refined.

• The Foreman then adopted the role of the persona and did a design walkthrough facilitated by the Surveyor.

Implement - Interactionary

During the competition:
• The design was then finalized and presented to the judges by the Architects.

Alex Tam - WORK

Design Highlights • Interaction Design • Product Design

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Interaction Design Projects

Understand/
Observe

Visualize

Evaluate/
Refine

Implement

Interactionary Competition
Toronto Usability Summit (2003)

What is an Interactionary? Solve a design problem with a team in 10 minutes in front of an audience!

According to interactionary founder, Scott Berkin:
“ This is an experiment in design education. The idea is to explore the process of design by forcing insane time constraints and asking teams of designers to work together in front of a live audience. It forces the discussion of design process, teamwork, and organization, and asks important questions about how designers do what they do.”

“The goal is to expose the dynamic intangibles of design in progress, and allow an audience to listen in on different teams and observe how they work.”

Toronto Usability Summit

Judges IBM Team at CHI 2000

Quarry team roles

Design Objective:
Prepare for and compete in a 10-minute, live, on-stage design competition. The goal is both to educate about the design process and entertain. Marks are awarded for process, teamwork, user focus, and the final design.

Design Solution:
As team captain, I brought together a multidisciplinary team to prepare for competition. We adapted Quarry’s Design Builder methodology and used personas to create and refine a process that would work for the ten-minute time frame. Following a builder theme, we identified roles of Architect (designer), Surveyor (customer insight), and Foreman (project manager).

The time was broken into distinct phases of footings, foundation, frame, and finish with objectives for each role in each step. The team practiced with a number of design problems before the competition.

Result:
The outcome was a victory for Quarry over teams from the IBM Innovation Center, and Infinet Communications. Aside from winning the competition, we found that interactionaries are a fantastic addition to a designer's toolbox for brainstorming through a problem.

1st place - Quarry Interaction Design

2nd place - IBM innovation Center

"The Quarry team’s collaboration was remarkable. The coordination between the team members seemed effortless as they worked through the steps of a clear and effective design process." - Mark Chignell, Judge

3rd place - Infinet Communications

Links:
Toronto usability summit
Scott Berkun on Interactionaries
Quarry process document

Time: 5 meetings to prepare, 10 minutes to compete
Tools: whiteboards, flipcharts, microphones, props.
Team: (2 architects), 1 surveyor, 1 foreman, 1 coach, 4 judges, audience

Practice session solution for conference phone design

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