Interaction Modes

What are Interaction Modes?

Interaction modes are a new concept created as part of the Intelligent Design System Vision. They describe the mindsets people adopt when engaging with digital experiences — for example, Analyzing, Reviewing, Monitoring, or Configuring. They are not tied to a single feature, component, or journey. Instead, they function like knowledge tokens: reusable pieces of insight that permeate across the design system and can inform the product experience.

Just as styling tokens influence everything from typography to components to patterns, interaction modes provide a system-wide lens that connects:

In this sense, interaction modes are not just another taxonomy — they are powerful building blocks that give us consistency, adaptability, and depth across the entire system. They enable us to talk about design not only in terms of “what is being built,” but also “what mindset it needs to support.”

• Components and patterns: guiding which UI elements best serve a given mindset.

• Journeys and flows: framing how a user’s intent shifts as they progress.

• Playbooks and guidance: turning abstract principles into mode-specific best practices.

• Cross-functional work: giving Researchers, PMs, Engineers, Designers and Leaders a shared vocabulary for user experience.

In this sense, interaction modes are not just another taxonomy — they are powerful building blocks that give us consistency, adaptability, and depth across the entire system. They enable us to talk about design not only in terms of “what is being built,” but also “what mindset it needs to support.”

Why Now?

We are at a turning point in the industry in both our capabilities and the expectations of users. Experiences are becoming more personalized, AI-driven, and increasingly agentic.  Users expect systems that:

• Adapt to their context.
• Anticipate their needs.
• Guide them with intelligent defaults and nudges. Interaction modes can help us infuse that expected level of context and intelligence into everything that we do.

Key Takeaway

• For AI: Interaction modes + an Intelligent Design System provide the rules of the game so AI can generate UIs that make sense.

• For Traditional workflows: They provide a shared lens that unifies design, build, and PM decision-making, reducing ambiguity and silos.

• Together: They future-proof today’s work while laying a foundation for tomorrow’s adaptive, AI-driven experiences

Explore Interaction Modes

• Mode Families
• How It All Connects
• Analyzing
• Big Picture
• Completing
• Configuring
• Creating
• Decision-Making
• Discovering
• Executing
• Finding
• Monitoring
• Navigating
• Orienting
• Planning
• Resuming
• Reviewing