Time, Temporality and Interaction

Magazine article, 2009

Temporal considerations are important in interaction design, since they affect both use, manners of interaction, and aesthetics. So – how can an artifact be changed by altering its temporal aspects? Inspired by examples from different aesthetic disciplines, we have found six temporal themes. These range from Live Time – when time is the same “inside” as “outside” of the artifact – to the other extreme, Juxtaposed Time where events are not only shown out of order but also simultaneously. Knowledge of these themes opens up an unexplored direction of the design space; we suggest a thinking technique for this, and present a series of simple drawing applications to exemplify this.