Every year, IxDA‘s Interaction Awards assembles a diverse group of design practitioners from all around the world to select exemplary projects in six impact-based categories from among a community peer-reviewed short list. I had the privilege of serve in the jury for 2016’s edition.
There are many things about the IxDA Interaction Awards that are unique — and uniquely geared to the work we do in interaction design. Most awards align entries around industries (e.g. medical, consumer goods, industrial, etc.) or around the manifestation of the experience (e.g. websites, portals, applications, mobile apps, games, etc.) This approach may work well for other awards programs, but we feel it misses a crucial quality inherent in interactive, experiential work: the intent behind the experience.
This is why IxDA has chosen the following categories for the awards:
- Connecting: Facilitating communication between people and communities
- Engaging: Capturing attention, creating delight and delivering meaning
- Empowering: Enabling people to go beyond their limits
- Expressing: Encouraging self expression and/or creativity
- Disrupting: Re-imagining completely an existing product or service by creating new behaviors, usages or markets
- Optimizing: Making daily activities more efficient
During the 2016 jury weekend gathering — which was hosted in November 2015 by SVA’s MFA in IxD program — myself and the other jurors sat down with the Interaction Awards co-chairs MJ Broadbent and Thomas Kueber and shared some insights and perspectives on the field of interaction design.
IxDA’s 2016 Interaction Design Today
About
This is the first of a series of videos I’ll be posting about my experience of sitting in the jury of the IxDA’s 2016 Interaction Awards, as well as to reflect on some of the categories winners. In the video above, you’ll hear from Kim Goodwin (Jury Chair), Brenda Laurel, Sudhir Sharma, Leisa Reichelt, Alok Nandi, Amber Case, and myself.
