“Designing for Conversation” is a rich phrase with multiple interpretations—does it mean, designing to foster conversation? Why would that be a good thing?
Here’s how I interpret it:
- An approach to IxD—creating opportunities for interaction that, as much as possible, enable conversations. Even that can be unpacked to “… enable conversations among two or more human participants, or within one person, intended to enhance an individual’s ability to learn, to understand, and to decide.” The paper “What is Conversation?” is an approachable introduction, and this list of resources goes further.
- An approach to “designing the designing”—approaching and evolving the design process itself, in order to increase the quality of design outcomes. This video—starting from 2’20” and through 25’45”—offers a critique of the steps in design thinking and a specific, alternative approach with its rationale.
Regarding #2, where do we begin? Here’s another post about that, Designing the first Design Conversation.