From the course: UX Foundations: Interaction Design

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Defining microinteractions

Defining microinteractions

From the course: UX Foundations: Interaction Design

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Defining microinteractions

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- Microinteractions are the small nuanced reactions of a product while a person is engaged in a task. They are an important source of information to help people understand what is happening and predict what they should do or what will happen next. Microinteractions provide feedback that the person has interacted with the device, but they may also change the state of an element so people can see if they have already interacted with something. Microinteractions also contribute to our emotional reactions to a product. The animations that many social networks use when people "like", "heart", "star", or "favorite" a post are microinteractions. Dan Saffer has studied and written extensively about the importance of microinteractions. He describes them as having four parts: triggers, rules, feedback, and loops and modes. Microinteractions are initiated by a trigger. This may be an interaction by a person or something the product…

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