Are we designing for observers, manipulators or co-creators? For example, I create a program in Flash which allows a user to manipulate the contents of that program. Who is the creator? Is it the team that wrote the Flash software? Is it the person who wrote software with Flash (me)? Is it the person who manipulated the software I wrote with flash into it’s final form? Is it the people that wrote the programing language that was used to write Flash in the first place?
I bring it up because the question has forced me to think about what I am doing as a designer, specifically as a visual communicator. Am I designing for observers, manipulators or co-creators? Stated another way, how much power should I afford my audience to alter what I have created? I believe having an answer to this question is fundamental to good design. The design requirements for these 3 audiences are very different. An observer needs something worth contemplating. A manipulator needs something worth configuring. A co-creator needs room to contribute something of near equal value to the creator. Here are a few examples of how these requirements can be conflicting. A successful interface is often one that requires the least contemplation. If you leave too much work for a manipulator they may grudgingly feel like they are being asked to co-create. A manipulator may get bored if allowed only to observe.
If I assume I am designing interactions, and no longer just designing visuals for observation, how does that affect the message I am communicating with my design? Interaction suggests a series of choices to be made by a user. Without choices, there is no room for interaction. Each additional choice given to the user means I am imposing my will less as a designer. I am no longer making a statement but instead asking questions. For example, if I provide a volume slider on an interface, I am saying “would you like to change the volume” instead of having a fixed volume which says “this is the ideal volume for you to listen at”. If I pass enough of these decisions to the user could they not be considered co-creator instead of just manipulator?
Another way to look at it is to ask “am I imposing myself as an expert, or am I facilitating independent discovery, or both”? This sounds more like a question about pedagogy than it does about aesthetics. Perhaps reading up some more on educational philosophy could provide some valuable insight to answering this question.