Watch video here: http://vimeo.com/9661208
In "The Human Interface", I explain how we can make better products when we think of them as human beings.
This is the version I presented at the Interaction 10 conference in Savannah (significantly updated from the one presented at the 2009 O'Reilly Web 2.0 Expo in New York).
Apologies to all the cited people and rights-holders I have not yet had time to credit.
13. ”As our worlds become smarter,
and get to know us better and
better, it becomes harder and
harder to say where the world
stops and the person begins.”
- Andy Clarke, “Natural Born Cyborgs”
25. What childhood
experiences most
powerfully influence your
approach to interaction
design today?
26. Childhood IxD Experiences
1. Taking things apart to see how they work
2. Fixing broken things
3. Creating little worlds
27. Why?
1. Interaction design is a creative form.
UX designers want to use technology and
design to create emotional, imaginative, and
deeply human experiences.
28. Why?
1. Interaction design is a creative form.
UX designers want to use technology and
design to create emotional, imaginative, and
deeply human experiences.
2. Change is in the air.
New technologies are converging to permit
new and more compelling interactions.
29. New Technologies
Image
recognition
Touch
Voice recognition
Gesture
40. “The role of technology is to
mirror our humanness. We were
born with everything we need:
good technology reminds us of
that.”
- Jack Dorsey (@jack), CEO Twitter
41. The Human Interface...
... is about persuasion and seduction
... is smart and has awareness
... is physical, embodied
... is linguistic, poetic, and narrative
... is emotional and feeling
... has a name and an identity
... has a personality
42. “Want to know what I think the next UI break-
throughs will be? Here are two, both of which can
be considered a return to fundamentals:
1. Command line languages;
2. Physicality: the return to physical devices,
where we control things by physical body
movement, by turning, moving, and manipulating
appropriate mechanical devices.”
- Don Norman, 2007
45. The Human Interface
Literally, it’s about the ergonomics of the
body and the mind.
Metaphorically, it’s about removing
abstraction from interactions
49. Lessons so far:
Not about mimicking human behavior, but
about reflecting it.
Software that mirrors behavior:
• Chat and IM reflect the immediacy of communication
• Social networks mirror the structure of the special
primacy we give our own friends (vs. everyone else)
• Twitter reflects the semi-social “cocktail party” model
of social interaction.
66. Sentience: The ability to feel or
perceive subjectively.
The system is able to collect
robust sensory data from the
world, and make sense of that
data.
84. 2. Intimacy: The quality of being close,
comfortable, and familiar.
The system can interface with
humans extremely closely, up
close and personal, and with
our glad consent.
85. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
86. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
87. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
88. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
89. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
90. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
91. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
92. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
93. Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations
98. Politeness
Clifford Nass:
“Design solutions are often social solutions.”
Tom Armitage:
“The applications and tools we are building are,
whether we like it or not, defining the manners of
the web today. We should be careful to consider the
behaviors we wish to reinforce, and those we don't.”
99. Politeness
• Don't reject
• Don't interrupt
• Say hello and goodbye
• Use someone's name
• Look people in the eye
• Respond in kind
• Respect differences
102. “You are not your job, you're not
how much money you have in the
bank, you're not the car you drive,
you're not the contents of your
wallet, you're not your fucking
khakis.”
- Tyler Durden, “Fight Club”
103. “You are not your job, you're not
how much money you have in the
bank, you're not the car you drive,
you're not the contents of your
wallet, you're not your fucking
khakis.”
No! You are your fucking khakis!
- Tyler Durden, “Fight Club”
105. Personality: The sum of an individual
person’s mental, emotional,
behavioral, and social characteristics.
The system has a distinctive
character, with recognizable
human cultural and
psychological behaviors.
135. Things to try
• Use pronouns for your product: he, she.
• Give your application a name
• Do more visceral prototypes, things that have weight
and that you can touch.
• Collaborate with new disciplines
• Go to a different field’s conference. Go to the Game
Developer’s Conference, or to SIGGRAPH.
• Tell more stories! Bring character-driven screenwriting
and dramaturgy to your experience design.
136. If we don’t humanize
our products, our
products will
mechanize us.