About IxDA

Originally founded in 2003 as the Interaction Design Group (IxDG), the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) was incorporated as a non-profit, member-supported organization in September 2005. IxDA is committed to serving the needs of the international interaction design community by

• disseminating information about interaction design standards, guidelines, patterns, and best practices
• providing tools and other resources for interaction designers
• assisting members of the interaction design community in obtaining employment through our planned
  • Jobs Board—on which employers can post job listings for staff and contract positions and members can post their resumes
  • Consultants Directory—through which consultants can offer their services to those seeking interaction design professionals
• providing a forum for the discussion of interaction design issues
• publishing news and other information about our organization through our Web site, newsletter, email announcements, press releases, and other media

IxDA sponsors all of these activities in pursuit of our mission.

Our History

The Interaction Design Association came into being in response to Bruce “Tog” Tognazzini’s impassioned plea to the interaction design community to create a nonprofit professional association to address the challenges that interaction designers encounter in their professional lives. Tog still has his evangelistic zeal. To see what Tog had to say on the matter, read his AskTog column from August 2003, It’s Time We Got Respect.

Coincidentally, Challis Hodge had also been thinking about establishing an association for interaction designers. He immediately responded by contacting Tog, starting a discussion list with him, and publishing A New Home for Interaction Designers on his UXblog™. In his blog he said, “We’re here to create a home for interaction designers.... It must address the issues and challenges that the many hundreds of us face in our jobs. Over the past couple of years, I have had conversations with many interaction designers, and almost without exception, these conversations have centered on the need to strengthen our profession through new initiatives, certifications, organizations, and more. ... This is a unique time in the history of interaction design—so many of us have come together asking similar questions and demanding change. We must capitalize on this opportunity; it is now or never.”

Challis Hodge later told us, “I had been working on the idea of an interaction design organization for some time before Tog’s article appeared. Once I saw the article, I knew I had to move, because there probably wouldn’t be a second chance to do this if it failed the first time. I stirred up ... discussion on several email lists by pinging a couple dozen senior folks for their opinions. Soon after, I stepped in to assist with moving this thing forward, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

The interaction design community responded to these two calls for action, and Rick Cecil, David Heller, Challis Hodge, and Jim Jarrett formed the Steering Committee for the Interaction Design Association. On the discussion list that Challis and Tog established, an active dialogue ensued about what this home for interaction designers should be. The Interaction Design Association was the result of this discussion and is truly a member-created organization.

At a New York City IxDA face-to-face meeting, on October 18, 2005, Greg Petroff, Treasurer of IxDA, presented "A Brief History of the Interaction Design Association." He spoke about the incorporation of IxDA as a non-profit organization in the state of Oregon and highlighted the major milestones in our journey from a mailing-list community to a professional community of practice.

A great historical artifact of the creation of IxDA came out of the IxDA Organizing Retreat, which took place on June 17–19, 2005. The planning committee for that retreat conducted a survey that had a subscriber response rate of ten percent. We also interviewed subscribers and non-subscribers within the user experience sphere. During the retreat, we analyzed all of the data that we had gathered, then modeled personas representing the various constituents of our community. Our research led to the creation of personas that were invaluable in the design of our new organization.