Advancing interactivity: graphic designers’ practice-based contribution to developing the Web

ABSTRACT

This article examines how graphic designers’ innovations in web design revealed the potential and capabilities of interactivity as a communication experience tool. During the early World Wide Web (1995–2008), graphic designers’ practice-based contribution to interactivity enhanced how people experienced this new technological domain. Few designers contributed to the scholarly discussion of interactivity. The main academic fields that did—Human–Computer Interaction, Interaction Design and Communication Theory—disregarded graphic design's contribution, slowing knowledge production around the nature and potential of interactivity. The article compares the three fields’ main ideas about interactivity to an analysis of 47 websites from 2008. It argues that although the idea of interactivity emerged as a transdisciplinary phenomenon, graphic designers’ practical implementation of interactivity in web design through the development of qualities of intuitiveness, enablement, responsiveness, connectivity, intentionality and experience extended its conceptualization beyond technical standards, functionality and theorization.

KEYWORDS:

• Interactivity
• graphic design
• web design
• communication experience
• usability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicole Wragg

Nicole (Nicki) Wragg is the Chair of Communication & Digital Media Design at Swinburne University of Technology. Nicki's research sits at the intersection of communication design, technology and design education. She applies an interdisciplinary and industry-engaged approach to examine how best to communicate a range of social issues. Her research and educational practice bring together students and industry experts in meaningful collaborative projects. Nicki led the translation of studio-based design education into the first fully online design degree in Australia between 2014 and 2018. She played a significant role in reimaging the studio and the pedagogy underpinning the studio, and was involved in numerous strategic projects, including the development of over 200 design video resources. She continues to develop ways for design students, both online and on campus, to collaborate, share resources and foster a deep understanding of design.

Carolyn Barnes

Carolyn Barnes (PhD Melb 2004) is the Academic Director of Research Training in the School of Design, where she teaches research methods for academic and practice applications at Honours and Masters level. Her research investigates how to harness the knowledge and power bound up in individuals and groups to address their primary needs and interests. Using social research approaches, Carolyn works in two main areas. The first is participatory design, examining how co-creation methods can mobilize stakeholder knowledge to achieve the best outcomes for people. The second is research into practitioner networks, which investigates the transfer of knowledge and skills within networks of designers and artists. Carolyn is an associate editor of the International Journal of Design and a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Visual Arts Practice.