Extending the Ecological Interface Design process—Integrated EID

Abstract

This article aims to extend the traditional Ecological Interface Design (EID) process.With the rapid pace of digitalization in technological systems, there is a need for a design process that can handle the systemic design goals and the experiential basis of interaction. Currently, the traditional EID is well-positioned to address these challenges. However, methodologically, it needs to be substantiated to make it accessible for designers, designing for novel arenas, such as Industry 4.0. Further, substantiating the design process will help designers, engineers, and human factors researchers with an accessible pathway that links the design brief to the final interface form. Therefore, this article delves into the "design" basis in the work of the Risø group and other prominent EID researchers and practitioners. In addition, it draws from a variety of themes in the discipline of design that addresses methodology. In particular, key insights are drawn from the design methods movement (1960s-); design, communication, and complexity from the Ulm school of design, 1953-1968; cognitive research conducted on designers and design activities; and finally, interaction design and communication design processes and models. All of these insights have been used syncretically to create the new integrated EID (iEID) process. This new design process consists of nine stages divided into three phases of divergence, transformation, and convergence, converting the initial design brief to the final interface. The steps of iEID are demonstrated using the example of interface design for a "digital twin" in the manufacturing sector.

The future of manufacturing: Utopia or dystopia?

“…Kant and Sudakaran (2022) proposed an extended approach to EID, the integrated EID (iEID), motivated by the need for novel design approaches for increasingly digital systems and validated this in the design of a digital twin. Within iEID, early‐stage activities involve developing a conceptual model of the context of use, with the recommendation to capture data on the work domain, tasks, situations, and operator characteristics through qualitative analysis.…”

“…In addition, methods such as Cognitive Work Analysis (Salmon et al, 2016), Event Analysis of Systemic Teamwork (Walker et al, 2006), and Ecological Interface Design (EID) (Vicente & Rasmussen, 1992) have been widely used to analyze properties, interactions, and emergent behavior within complex sociotechnical systems to inform the design of future technologies. Kant and Sudakaran (2022) proposed an extended approach to EID, the integrated EID (iEID), motivated by the need for novel design approaches for increasingly digital systems and validated this in the design of a digital twin. Within iEID, early-stage activities involve developing a conceptual model of the context of use, with the recommendation to capture data on the work domain, tasks, situations, and operator characteristics through qualitative analysis.…”

Ecological interface design and emergent users: Designing for small‐scale trucking ecology in India

“…From its earlier designs in the nuclear sector, EID has been successfully used for designing in other sectors such as defence, aviation, and healthcare (Bennett & Flach, 2019; Borst et al, 2015; Mulder et al, 2019; Vicente, 2002). EID derives from ecological psychology as well as design theory (Kant & Sudakaran, 2022). EID is an elaborate process and uses various conceptual tools for the analysis of requirements which include the abstraction hierarchy (AH), decision ladder (DL), skills, rules and knowledge taxonomy (SRK), among others.…”

“…EID is an elaborate process and uses various conceptual tools for the analysis of requirements which include the abstraction hierarchy (AH), decision ladder (DL), skills, rules and knowledge taxonomy (SRK), among others. These information requirement tools help and guide the development of the final interface in several steps (e.g., Bennett & Flach, 2011;Burns & Hajdukiewicz, 2004;Kant & Sudakaran, 2022). Some researchers have used EID and some parts of its accompanying conceptual tools to design interfaces.…”