Information Graphics as an active tool during the Interaction Design process

Abstract

This article presents a graphic structure used as a tool to organize, illustrate and handle information during the early stages of the interaction design process. This seems to be an alternative way to deal with today’s need to manage large amount of diverse data making it visually available for the designer. The development of this graphic method is illustrated with a case where the tool was applied as well as a short guide to the use of the tool. The results demonstrate the benefits derived from the application of the method. All the events and reflections in this article are based on the experience of an academic interaction design project. The focus was the improvement of the control system of a specialized forestry vehicle in terms of user interface. The goal was increasing profit from the activity by reducing the effects of cognitive overload on the workforce’s health, performance and safety.