Hybrid methodology for social & digital space design: user experience & interaction models design based on human science & user-centered

The spread of social dynamics of web 2.0 and the SPIME devices (Sterling 2006) which allow consultation georeferenced and in mobile context of internet data have introduced new challenges to the classic (web) interfaces and interactive systems design models. The approaches of the design disciplines – based on problem-solving, analytical & synthetic models (see Munari 1981; Potter 2002 and Bollini 2007) or already mediated by cognitive science methodologies such as user-personas/scenarios (Garret 2000) or mixed with IT procedures – seem no longer sufficient to meet the needs of new theoretical, cultural and methodological framework. The paper introduces and presents a research approach based on hybrid methodologies of design, human & social sciences aimed to identify social dynamics as drivers of the digital – UX & interaction – projects. The paper introduces and presents a research approach based on hybrid methodologies of design and human sciences (quantitative and qualitative research methods) aimed to identifying social dynamics as drivers of the project that has the space as main design focus, in its physical, experiential and digital dimension. The focal points were identified in the landscape – based on the Lynch’s idea (1969) – the lived social and digital experience according to the psychological approach of Turkle (1997 e 2012). The research has investigated with experimental methods different levels of details exemplified by case studies increasingly complex (size/scale) to monitor and model the interdisciplinary approach, its applicability and reproducibility as a method (Bollini 2011b). A first design case – the cell – has investigated a spatial aggregation and a vortal (University campus) through a mixed approach of design/qualitative research and user-test methods. A second one – the texture – dedicated to a spatial aggregation and a multifunctional knowledgebased modeled on the needs of the social-tribes (Maffesoli 1969) of an urban district used an hybrid approach made by design/qualitative research and representative tests. And a third – the body – focused on a systemic relationship between a space cluster, socialtribes and digital worlds translated in a Mobile App investigated the space from a design & social perspective, validated through qualitative and social research methodologies (Bollini 2011a). In perspective of the cases’ experimental results, the hybrid approach – modeled through the different disciplinary perspectives and methodologies – seems to better meet the challenges that new social and technological scenarios are opening in areas increasingly specific and at the same time transverse as the interaction and digital media design.