Interaction Design - Storyboarding

Interaction design is how the user will experience and interact with the information presented in the site; it gives the user guidance and points of control that are clear (obvious), simple and easy to use.

Critical stages of interaction design include:

Guidance and placement (orientation): The user should intuitively know where they are, and how to explore the site. This can be achieved through use of visual guides and consistent graphical design and layout.

Design of navigation system and access routes: One rule-of-thumb that the navigation system should adhere to is KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) - By keeping the navigation simple and elegant the flowchart (navigation design) of the site should clearly illustrate all the access routes with minimal levels of depth, travel and redundancy.

Actionable events in every screen: This stage of interaction design determines what will appear in each screen of the site. This covers controls for navigation; appearance and content.

Design controls for interaction: There are many options that are available; the key is to select what are the best options to meet the goals of the specific site. Some options include: text, images, icons, buttons, pop-up menus and timelines that can all be used as controls for interaction (links to new pages or new topics).

Storyboard: The storyboard is like a sketch of the entires site; it will illustrate the actionable events and design controls for interaction on every screen. The purpose of the storyboard is to clearly and in detail display how these elements will be integrated to form the site.