Teaching Aesthetics in Interaction Design: Attempt One

Paper in proceeding, 2009

The issue of aesthetics is complex, and the discussion on how to apply it to interaction design has hardly begun. Hence, there is not much written on how to teach this subject; this paper consists of a suggestion. Here, I will describe my work with the course Aesthetics of Interaction, and my initial intentions behind it. The course consisted of lectures, literature discussions, excursions, exercises and feedback sessions, and the examination form was to hand in a portfolio. It turned out to be a creative and interesting journey with highlights such as the intricacies of designing playful interaction, evoking angst, mimicking Word’s design, adding time to art, redesigning the Office assistant and more. These and the other parts of the course will be analyzed and discussed in relation to their learning outcomes in terms of my observations and the students’ own comments. Consequently, possible changes and improvements will also be discussed.