Interactive Designer

An Interactive Designer uses creativity and technology to design and style websites and software products that are engaging, dynamic, and user friendly. This is an art form that goes far beyond simply creating navigation menus and moving animations.

As an Interactive Designer, you develop design strategies and come up with creative solutions for combining form and function. Your goal as an Interactive Designer is to create interesting and compelling experiences for others. To do this, you need a solid understanding of the user’s needs, wants, interests, goals, tasks, and abilities, along with knowledge of current design conventions, and overall web usability.

Your duties fall into a wide range, and many times include grand-scheme plans like designing the information structure, content and functionality for websites and software. This might include creating the navigation components, designing interactive elements – such as forms, applets, etc., and deciding how menus and other elements will look and function.

To do these projects you will spend some time creating sketches of the interfaces of all the interactive elements that will be on the site or software. When your projects are completed, you may even help with the creation of prototypes.

Alternatively, you might work on smaller units of a product, such as managing the details of sequencing, workflow, formatting forms, or ensuring consistency across the interface.

Either way, this job requires that you think outside of the box to find effective ways of balancing the user’s needs with the client’s business goals and technical capabilities. You also have to be able to effectively communicate complex design ideas with collaborating staff members, Designers, and Writers, as well as the clients.