The Best Interface Is No Interface - KeynesYouDigIt/Knowledge GitHub Wiki

Screen-based Thinking

Opening a car door with an app vs. a key:

  • App: 13 steps (from taking out your phone, authing in, etc.)
  • Key: 3 steps

Even better, a solution made by Siemens for Mercedes:

When you touch the door handle, an RF signal is sent to see if keys are in proximity. If so, it opens. It also detects if the keys are in the car. That's an improvement, no app needed.

  1. Walk up my car (me)
  2. Pull out my smartphone
  3. Wake up my phone
  4. Unlock my phone
  5. Exit my last opened app
  6. Exit my last opened group
  7. Swipe through a sea of icons searching for the app
  8. Tap the app icon
  9. Wait for the app to load and try to find the unlock section
  10. Make a guess with the menu and tap "Control"
  11. Tap the unlock button
  12. Slide the slider to unlock
  13. Physically open the door (my goal)

Everything in between is waste.

The Problem

Slap an Interface On It

  • Putting a screen in the Tesla
    • Distracts drivers
  • Putting a screen on refrigerators
    • What digital tasks does anyone want to do from a refrigerator?
  • Putting a screen on a recycling bin
    • $47,000 to make the recycling bin look futurisitic
  • Putting a screen on tables in restaurants
    • Instead of talking to someone
  • Putting a screen on vending machines
    • Clear glass lets you see what you're going to get- this lets you order "through a series of menus and error messages"

UX ≠ UI

UI:

Navigation, subnavigation, menus, drop-downs, buttons, links, windows, rounded corners, shadowing, error messages, alerts, updates, checkboxes, password fields, search fields, text inputs, radio selections, text areas, hover states, selection states, pressed states, tooltips, banner ads, embedded videos, swipe animations, scrolling, clicking, iconography, colors, lists, slideshows, alt text, badges, notifications, gradients, pop-ups, carousels, OK/Cancel

UX:

People, happiness, solving problems, understanding needs, love, efficiency, entertainment, pleasure, delight, smiles, soul, warmth, personality, joy, satisfaction, gratification, elation, exhilaration, bliss, euphoria, convenience, enchantment, magic, productivity, effectiveness

Rather than find the best solution for a problem, we automatically solve problems with screens because it was in the job description when we were hired as a "UI/UX Designer."

Addiction UX

Percentage of revenue from advertising in 2011:

| --------- | --- | | Google | 96% | | Facebook | 84% | | Twitter | 90% | | Yahoo! | 80% |

These companies are not incentivized to solve problems for users- they're incentivized to get them to blankly stare at their apps for as long as possible. Facebook redesigned in 2013 to be a more efficient "personal newspaper." It was abandoned because it worked too well, and people were coming to the site, getting what they wanted, and then leaving. Even apps that don't have ads still design for addiction so they can tell investors about how easy it's going to be to add ads.

Distraction

Multitasking isn't real. Clifford Nass spent 25 years studying it, and found that a tiny number of people can do 2 things at once, and no one can do three. The loss of attention span is hurting us mentally and physically.

Screen Insomnia

If light were a drug, the government would not approve it. Lots of artificial light is linked to a variety of health maladies, including insomnia. High color temperatures inhibit melatonin production. You can help by turning the brightness down all the way and holding the phone farther from your face.

The Screenless Office

In the quest for the paperless office, we just replaced all the paper with screens.

  • The best design reduces work
  • The best computer is unseen
  • The best interaction is natural
  • The best interface is no interface

Principle One: Embrace Typical Processes Instead of Screens

Back Pocket Apps

People check their phones approximately 150 times a day. If all phones need to be covered in cases, why do the materials they're made of matter? Why don't cars have to be covered in cases? Phones are poorly designed for their use.

Good:

  • Locks that open when you get close
  • Square Wallet's "Open Tab" feature

Bad:

  • Confusing checkout screens

Lazy Rectangles

Unique problems don't have generic answers. While researching all of the aspects of the problem, coming up with mood boards, doing interviews... don't force the answer into a rectangle. Even if the core problem is an app, your solution doesn't have to be. Rather than an app that opens your trunk, Ford came up with a trunk you can open with your foot. 47% of Ford Escape owners added this option in the first year, which is high for a piece of tech that had never existed before.

Instead of trying to come up with an app to keep your car cooler, some car manufacturers have come up with fans that extract heat from the car powered by solar panels. Work with the sun to solve the problem! Don't inject a GUI into the solution before you have to.

Principle Two: Leverage Computers Instead of Serving Them

Computer Tantrums

We serve computers when we are forced to come up with unique passwords, decrypt error messages, format dates a particular way, etc.

Machine Input

Teach computers to sense the world more like people do. Computers currently exist outside the world, instead of as a part of it. Things like RFID cards can allow us to use signals or machine input instead of human input.

  • RFID for logging into computers with personalized settings
  • A headlamp that senses the ambient light around you
  • GPS can let an app know your location and adjust accordingly
  • Bluetooth radios can let objects talk to each other
  • Cameras can provide color information
  • Phone can automatically look up information to help you
  • Sensors in helmets can use flashing lights to indicate if trauma has occurred

Analog and Digital Chores

People don't have enough time, which is a problem that apps don't solve. People don't understand what the modes on the washing machine and dishwasher do. They're awash with choices, but have no energy to make them thoughtfully. In the digital world, apps need to be constantly checked, updated, and interacted with.

Good:

  • Tires that inflate themselves
  • An itinerary service that compiles itineraries by scanning your inbox

Principle Three: Adapt To Individuals

Computing For One

Making one interface that will satisfy an average is very hard, and in the end, interfaces are often representative of no one.

Machine learning is a powerful tool that is currently being leveraged to figure out what will make individuals click one more ad. Tech workers aren't fired for being safe, but tech companies are. The "People You May Know" feature of LinkedIn was thought to be too data-intensive and uninteresting, and it was instantly successful. Interfaces should adapt to the users.

Proactive Computing

Voice technology seems promising, but you're ultimately limited by a very small number of pre-determined commands. Move from "Hey computer," to "Thank you, computer!" for proactively anticipating your needs. Be a "method designer" (like method actor) and work with the typical processes that user has.

Good:

  • Turn up your phone's ringer when it can tell you're in a loud room
  • At beeping crosswalks, vibrate so that people with vision impairments know it's safe to walk
  • Nest takes in sensor data about your house and adjusts over time
  • Using sensors in mattresses to determine heart rate, etc., and use ML to compare current readings to historical readings (adaptive) and alert the correct medical professional with distracting anyone else.
  • Using unintrusive computer vision in the NBA rafters to monitor for signs of impending injury

The Challenges

Change

This is new.

Privacy

One way to get enough user trust is to only use the data you actually need, and explain in plain english why you need it. Don't freak out your user by revealing that you know something about them that they aren't anticipating. Consider time-limiting the data being shared (especially stuff like GPS data).

Automatic

Automatic solutions have the power to become every day parts of our lives, but they're incredibly hard to get right.

Failure

GUIs can be good fallbacks or secondary interfaces.

  • Nest still has an interface on the thermostat and a dial
  • Lockitron has an app that allows you to manage permissions for eg. guests
  • The automatic headlamp can be configured with a desktop app
  • The medical mattress also has software that doctors can look at for diagnostics
  • The automatic trip itinerary app has an app that you can use to override something they got wrong

Exceptions

  • Infrequent, important tasks (eg. signing a mortgage)
  • Complex decision-making
  • Things that are authentically enjoyable with screens, like media consumption