As the technology around us gets increasingly complex, most of us find it more and more difficult to relate to the tools around us. By ignoring the needs and desires of the end-user, technology both high- and low-tech can become incredibly frustrating to use. In addition, we feel less and less like this is “our” product, despite the age-old human tradition to adorn and customize our personal belongings. This category of trends seeks to bring the user into the equation by creating a dialogue between tool and user, increasing understanding, creating a sense of personalization, and even guiding proper behaviors. This category speaks to one of the most basic functions of a designer: bringing humanity to the technology around us.
Fundamentally, design is an interplay between users and technology. Almost always, this relationship is a one-way street where the technology has to be adapted, or softened, or explained, or packaged in such a way that any user can immediately understand and wield it. Note that we’re using technology in the...
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Typically, products and services arrive to us fully formed: they are ready to use right out of the box. In fact the concept of having to assemble something (IKEA furniture, my daughter’s bike, etc.) has long been the mark of low-quality/low-cost products (hey, she’s 5; does she need a fancy...
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The term “affordances” came to be used in interaction design to indicate a visual cue to indicate the proper way for a user to interact with a device. That scoop under your door handle is an affordance, telling you where your fingers go in a visual language that all humans...
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