
Technology: ATMs are networked and connect to banking records allowing a user of the bank to access their account via an ATM + PIN.Culture/Societal Norms: Money is exchanged for goods and services.User Goal: User want to get money as physical currency.Macrointeraction builds on 3 key factors:įor example, let’s take the ATM experience. The larger context is valid when thinking about users and how they interact with a product. Like when it is national donut day and that leads to food ordering apps to put a “buy a donut now” button. Macro interactions can also be the starting place for microinteractions. By understanding macro systems an interaction designer can apply human-centered design skills into those systems. The micro and the macro have to work together and interaction designers like economists should understand the systems they are impacting.

Macro is millions of users buying toilet paper at once which impacts the paper supply chain. The UI button is the microinteraction where the agency the UI gives the user is macro. “ Always design an interaction by considering it in its next larger context - a UI button on a screen, a screen in a users hand, a users hand in an environment, a users environment in a society.” – Chris R. For an interaction designer that might look like: architecture) I believe every designer can see the systems thinking applied to considering the context. Louis Īlthough his quote is dealing with the build environment (i.e. “ Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context - a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.”įinnish-American architect - Father to Eero Saarinen- Architect of the Gateway Arch in St. Take the quote from Architect Eliel Saarinen. The macro and micro concepts of thinking about an economy are intimately linked with that of the designer. The difference is the execution of the system thinking. Economists apply macro concepts through researching and understanding the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economic system as a whole.Ī FED economist can manipulate an interest rate while an interaction designer working at Robinhood or Coinbase can manipulate how quickly a user can buy and sell stock/cryptocurrency-related to that news. Macroeconomics Applied to MacrointeractionsĪs a refresher, macroeconomics is the part of economics concerning large-scale. Let’s break down the two factors of interaction as applied by an economic theory: Macro and micro interaction.

The difference in the system thinking is the outcome. Both are equally caring about how humans operate in the bigger picture. If an economist considers currency (money) as their system then in that same vein an interaction designer considers human behavior (interaction) as their system. Interaction design and economics are two different professions but can be tied together by their connection to systems thinking. An exploration of how interaction design is conceptually linked with macro and microeconomics which you can learn more about with an online broker.
