Multimedia advice

Shedroff’s “Information Interaction Design” an inspirational read

I just finished reading Nathan Shedroff’s “Information Interaction Design: A Unified Field Theory of Design,” and I am excited to share with you what I thought was a highly insightful article. “One of the most important skills for almost everyone to have in the next decade and beyond will be those that allow us to create valuable, compelling, and empowering information and experiences for others.” This couldn’t be more true for multimedia producers.

Shedroff declares information interaction design to be the combination of information design, interaction design and sensorial design. He then analyzes how data evolves to information, then knowledge, and eventually wisdom through these three main facets.

What I enjoyed most about his article were his great graphics, which I included several here for you to examine.

One important phrase I found myself re-reading several times was the difference between participants and active users.

“People are naturally creative and are almost always more interested in experiences that allow them to create instead of merely participate.”

This statement makes me believe that multimedia packages should strive to do more than basic interactive options to allow the user more higher-end experiences to create, upload, share and add their input.

If you have a couple of minutes, this 15-page article is a great inspirational read. If you enjoyed it, make sure to also check out his other great articles and projects on his Website. Enjoy!

Other posts that might interest you:

• Intro to Information Visualization: 50+ blogs, books, people, software & more
• User-contributed holiday book wish list for multimedia enthusiasts
• When it comes to multimedia, design is everything

© 26 January 2009 Innovative Interactivity (II).