Abstract

To create successful interactive systems, user interface designers need to cooperate with developers and application domain experts in an interdisciplinary team. These groups, however, usually lack a common terminology to exchange ideas, opinions and values. This paper presents an approach that uses pattern languages to capture this knowledge in software development, human-computer interaction (HCI) and the application domain. A formal, domain-independent definition of design patterns allows for computer support without sacrificing readability, and pattern use is integrated into the usability engineering life cycle. As an example, experience from building an award-winning interactive music exhibit was turned into a pattern language, which was then used to inform follow-up projects and support HCI education.