今天我们身处设计的时代，设计师在规划、设计着我们生活中的每一个部分。大至时尚潮流，小至生活中所碰到的每一个工业产品。因而，在信息产品中我们同样也需要设计师进行规划和设计——为复杂的数字产品规划，尤其是那些直接与人交互的产品。这有如建筑师必须为建筑物和人们的生活社区做规划一样。对建筑师而言，他们必须理解住在建筑中的人是如何生活和工作的，并对空间进行设计，以支持和适应人们的日常生活。而对数字产品而言，规划中包含着对使用产品的人如何生活和工作的理解，并设计产品的外观、结构以及其交互行为以支持和适应人们的活动。建筑学是一门古老的学科，而交互设计则是一门相当新，仅仅在最近几年才成立的学科。交互设计不仅包括设计学，还包括心理学、认知科学等知识范畴。

We are now in the times of design, in which designers shape every part of our lives, from fashions to industrial products.  In the information technology we also need designers to shape and design for those complex digital products, especially those interacting directly with human beings.  Just like architects have to understand how people are going to work and live in the buildings before they can design the space to support those activities.  For digital products, designers shall consider user's conception towards life and work, before they design the outlook, structure and interaction activities of the product to support those human activities.  Architecture is a traditional subject, while interaction design is a relatively new subject only established in recent years.  Interaction design shall not only include design technology, but also other areas such as psychology and perception.