Yesterday, Jared Spool (UIE) posted a fantastic article about the subtleties of interaction design. And he was dead on.

Great interaction design isn’t just about task flows, features sets, and layouts. It’s about all those tiny details that make each and every interaction understandable and (hopefully) enjoyable. These are the things that lead to a great user experience.

In any given moment, a user’s goals can change. One moment can be about determining the purpose of a site and getting oriented. The next can be about learning more via a screencast. The next can be about signing up. And so on.

I’ve always thought about these moments, and these micro-level goals that affect how a person moves through an application. And I’ve always tried to design each moment to the best of my ability.

In case you missed it, my new book, Designing the Moment, was released about a month or so ago. It’s a collection of 31 stories from real design projects that illustrate how to think through each one of these moments and design for them.

Learn more about it here, or pick up your own copy. I hope you enjoy it.

Posted by Robert on June 25th, 2008