User Experience Design at Sony Ericsson - Introducing the Virtual Pet

Shedroff – A Unified Field Theory of Design
A part of Shedroff’s (1994) Unified Theory of Design covers interaction design, where six spectrums of
interactivity are presented. Experiences can be passive, like watching TV, or interactive, like having a
conversation.
The six dimensions of interactivity.
Feedback and Control Refers to how much control the audience has over the outcome of the
interaction and how much feedback exists in the interface.
Creativity and Productivity Refers to what degree the user has to participate by creating and manipulating
instead of merely watching and consuming.
Communications Refers to what degree the technology lets users meet others and/or talk to them
and share their personal stories and opinions
Adaptivity Refers to what degree the technology notices users behavior and adapts and
changes the experience.
These six dimensions can be plotted in a diagram that Shedroff calls the experience cube, in which every
experience – mediated or not - can be placed. As a six-dimensional cube not can be represented on paper,
Shedroff has combined dimension to reduce the number to three:
The Experience Cube.
Comments
Shedroff’s Unified Theory of Design does not provide
designers with direct design techniques or evaluation
methods; rather it classifies and organizes media in a very
useful way. The six dimensions of interactivity can be
seen as product dimensions and thereby act as a helpful
checklist for designers. Though it is not clear how they
should be broken down to goals and measurements,
some of the dimensions could be mapped to use qualities
to help design better experiences.
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