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change how they think about higher layers of the design. So in each iteration each layer
of design is touched lightly to produce a provisional design for the product. User feedback
usually addresses all layers at once, because users see the product holistically. But when
designers can see and think structurally they can focus early feedback on validating the
structure and product concept, saving UI details for later iterations when the structure is
stable.
InContextualDesign,thedesignphasecomprisesthreeprimarylayers.Thefirstis
prac-
tice design
:figuringouthowtheusermovesthroughthesysteminthecourseoftheiractiv-
ity (even if it is spread out over time, place, and device), with the right function and in-
formation available at every point. It's where the life of the user meets the functionality
and structure of the product. Practice design defines virtual “places” that support the dif-
ferentpartsoftheoverall activity cleanly: everything necessary andnothingextra.Practice
design includes the behavior of the system, including adaptive algorithms such as learning
the user's preferences by example. Practice design does not worry about how places and
functions show up visually—that's a concern for the lower layers of design (remembering
always that layers are not cleanly separated in time).
Practice design uses scenarios, use cases, and user stories to explore the different tasks,
activities, and situations the user may encounter and how the product will support them.
When your user data shows that people have to go to 87 separate places to do their job (a
real example, from the insurance industry), you know already that your system has prob-
lems. Contextual Design uses storyboards to ensure that the scenarios of use are coherent.
Storyboards make the team think through the practice coherently, ensuring the user experi-
ence makes sense.
Practicedesigniswheretrue,game-changinginnovationhappens.Thisiswherethenew
product concepts from ideation are made real. Innovation at lower layers of design can im-
prove the product, but doesn't introduce fundamental improvements in how activities are
done or the important goals of life are supported. That kind of transformation of life has to
happen here; support of the Wheel of Joy in Life happens here. We emphasize this because
this is also the easiest layer to skip—it's seductive to jump right into sketching out UIs and
designing pages. You can even get away with it, in that you'll still have a product at the
end. But you won't have the innovation you might have had if you had looked at practice
redesign first.
The next layer we identify in Contextual Design is
interaction design
. It's an overused
term, but useful: by it we mean designing the layout of the screens and the users' basic
interaction with them, independent of the specific graphical look. Interaction design might
specify a top navigation bar for a specific purpose, and an area to display the primary con-
tent. It might specify infinite scrolling, expand-in-place, and swipe-sideways for the con-
tent area. It would not specify font, color, or graphical decoration on any of those parts.
