How the iPad has changed us
Giles Colborne cxpartners
Image: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com 1

Let’s begin by
going back about
130 years:
What on earth is
this?
Photo © Martin Howard, by kind permission. www.antiquetypewriters.com 2

if you said
‘it’s a typewriter’
then well done!
Photo © Martin Howard, by kind permission. www.antiquetypewriters.com 3

Another early
typewriter. There’s no
keyboard. You select
letters with a stylus.
Photo © Martin Howard, by kind permission. www.antiquetypewriters.com 4

You could ‘type’ by
pressing some
buttons. why not
arrange the buttons in
a circle?
Photo © Martin Howard, by kind permission. www.antiquetypewriters.com 5

At last! a recognisable
typewriter. the keys
are arranged in a
convenient grid, the
paper feeds through a
roll.
We’re still using this
format.
optimal designs aren’t
always obvious.
Photo © Martin Howard, by kind permission. www.antiquetypewriters.com 6

This is the xerox Alto -
the first computer
with windows, a
keyboard and a mouse.
this design is about
40 years old But
it remains the
template for
computers today.
That doesn’t mean it’s
the ‘best’ design.
as you saw with the
typewriters, there’s
no reason a computer
has to look like
what’s gone before.
This interface may not
even be particularly
easy to use.
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Cameron Moll’s video of his 4 year
old son using an XO laptop
(designed for children!) is painful.
his son struggles to coordinate
between trackpad and screen, to
figure out what’s happening, or to
know which button to press.
After a minute’s use (guided
frequently by cameron) he’s still
not able to start the drawing
software let alone draw a picture.
keyboard+trackpad+Windows is
not intuitive. (though it’s better
than prior alternatives.)
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when you watch small children with
ipads, you’re struck by how quickly
they take to using them.
The abstract layer of the mouse
(or trackpad) and keyboard has
gone. Now you interact directly
with the images you see on the
screen.
This makes a huge difference. as
soon as you touch the screen, it’s
clear whether something is
‘clickable’ and what it does.
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#1
It’s changing how we
interact with computers
...and that change is
opening up computing
to new audiences.
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by taking design cues
from the real world,
you can give users
strong clues about
what they should do.
what’s hidden in that
stack of photos? maybe
if i touch it...
When i watch
mainstream users
using touchscreen
tablets for the first
time i’m struck by how
willing they are to
experiment, compared
to their awkward,
anxious prods at mouse
or keyboard.
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a new interface like this is
exciting for designers who want
to experiment.
But a word of warning. when we
watch mainstream users trying
to use outlandish ‘minority
report’ interfaces, they don’t
rate them.
They like the eye-candy. But they
prefer to use interfaces that
have simple interactions - like
these photo stacks.
12

weird interfaces ≠ value add
experiments belong in the lab.
aficionados praise novel approaches,
but be cautious about introducing
new ideas to mainstream users.
they are most comfortable with
minimalist interfaces (Like a stack of
photos to shuffle) or familiar
interfaces (like a piano keyboard to
play).
to reach the mainstream: keep it
simple or familiar.
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design purists hate ‘crass’
interfaces like the yellow lined
notepad. But mainstream users
smile when they see this because
they know what to do next.
A strong cue that speaks
clearly to users is a valuable
ally (so long as your cue or
metaphor doesn’t get in the way
of the user’s task).
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Tablets are also
changing when we
choose to interact
with computers.
these graphs are from
readitlaterlist.com -
software that lets
you save web pages to
look at later.
This graph shows when
people are saving...
15

This one shows when
they are looking at
saved pages on their
computers...
16

and when they are
reading on their
iPhones...
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...and on their ipADs.
Two Big spikes during
breakfast and late
evening ‘me’ time.
almost the opposite of
the computer.
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#2
It’s changing where we
interact with computers
in other words: people
use them on the sofa, in
bed, and places where
they wouldn’t normally
use computers. You need
to design for new
contexts.
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the best way to
understand context is
to take your designs
into the real world.
Omni designed
omnigraffle (a
drawing app) for ipad
before the device was
available. so they built
some iPads - from
they learned that
wood and paper - and
advanced editing on the
carried them around
move was a chore. So they
the office to see how
cut those features.
it felt to use them.
And they found that in
meetings people wanted
to share quick sketches.
So they added new
sketching features.
all this from carrying
blocks of wood.
Context can tell you a lot
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task context deborah hinman points
out that context has
social context several components.
For instance, ipads
spatial context have different social
rules to PCs - they get
handed around easily.
temporal context it’s hard to design for
all these contexts at
once.
instead, try to find
the one that
dominates, and design
for that first.
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a confession: i’m not
an ipad user.
i mean, i own one. but i
know it’s not for me.
it isn’t meant to be.
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#3
It’s changing who uses
computers
it’s for mainstreamers -
people who aren’t
interested in computers.
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you’re probably an
expert...
Experts Mainstreamers
precise control easy control
perfect results reliable results
principles examples
dismantle it avoid breaking it
defer gratification instant gratification
but mainstreamers have a
different set of goals,
attitudes and behaviours.
never design by saying
‘well, i would use it to...’
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so, when you design for
tablets like iPad:
What you should do...
Simplify, simplify, simplify
Provide familiar, strong cues
Design for interruption
Prototype in the real world
Build for the mainstream
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Thanks!
Giles Colborne
giles.colborne@cxpartners.co.uk
@gilescolborne
More tips on keeping it simple
(available at Amazon, B&N, etc.)
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