My take on how the Microinteractions are subtly becoming a part of our digital habits.

1. How consistent micro-interactions are shaping our
digital habits
Saroj Tailor
Human Centered Design, M.Des 1st semester, Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology
Abstract:
Microinteractions are any small
engagement you make with a device.
They make your experience feel more
personal and human. With the rise of the
mobile application industry, more apps
are getting introduced in the market.
With this new addition, it has become
very important for the apps to have the
best user experience that they can
provide to its customers.
Being an active mobile user and through
my constant observations, I’ve seen
people adapt to the microinteractions
happening in the app pretty quickly. In
this paper, through proper research, I
have tried to find out how these
consistent microinteractions are helping
people to develop or adapt browsing
habits.
1. Introduction:
You clicked on this file to open it and it
opened. This is an example of
microinteractions. Microinteractions are
all around us, from the turning on or of
an appliance to logging in to any online
service to getting the weather report in a
mobile app. They are the single use-case
features that do only one thing [6]. Every
meaningful engagement we do with our
devices is a microinteractions. From
snoozing the alarm in the morning to
setting the alarm at night. Every action
we perform is a microinteractions. We
interact with our apps throughout the
day. Turning off the alarm button in the
morning, reading mail, browsing through
social media, liking or commenting on
people’s post, answering the phone,
disconnecting the phone, turning off the
phone, all these things may seem to be
very insignificant, but they play a major
role in deciding the experience of a user
on a platform.
Input methods are also drastically
changing microinteractions. Not only do
we have physical controls like buttons,
switches, keyboards, and mice, we also
have touchscreens, sensors, voice, and
gestural means of triggering
microinteractions.
“Today, to trigger a microinteraction, you
don’t even need to be in the same room.
With the right equipment, you can adjust
the temperature in your house from the
other side of the world. Or you only need
to be in the right location; just by being

2. in a certain block, your mobile phone can
remind you of a to-do item, or your GPS
device can tell you where to turn left. In
public restrooms, you can turn on sinks
just by putting your hands into them. You
can tell your phone to find you a nearby
restaurant or flick your finger down a
touchscreen list to reveal a search bar, or
tap your phone on a counter to pay for
your coffee. The list goes on.” [6]
The cut and paste feature has been a very
novel example of microinteractions [1].
Some examples of the common app
microinteractions are [3]:
1. Scrolling on phone
2. Swipe to change screens
3. Tap/Hold for action
4. Pinch to zoom in or out
5. Liking, commenting or sharing on
social media
6. Viewing your notifications
7. Changing a setting
8. Refreshing the screen by sliding
down the screen
9. Locking/unlocking your phone
10. Typing your password
11. Playing music
12. Changing volume
13. Using touch pen
1.1 History of Microinteractions
In 1974, a young engineer called Larry
Tesler began working on an application
called Gypsy for the Xerox Alto computer.
Gypsy was one of the primary word-
processing applications ever. In Gypsy,
the user might select a piece of text, press
the “Copy” perform key, then select the
destination, and finally press the “Paste”
perform key. No mode required. And
thus, cut and paste was born [6]. The tiny
things we interact with every day on
desktops, laptops, and mobile devices
were once rudimentary
microinteractions: everything from
saving a document to organizing files
into folders to connecting to a LAN
network were all microinteractions that
needed to be designed. Even “basics” like
scrolling and opening multiple windows
needed to be designed and built.
1.2 The 4 parts of microinteractions
Fig1.1 The structure of microinteractions. Source
Trigger initiates a microinteraction. It can
be user-generated where the trigger gets
activated by the user’s activity or it can be
system generated where the trigger is
activated when the software detects that
certain criteria is met and then it initiates
an action. [2]
User generated trigger is when the user
turns off the screen by pressing the

3. power button whereas the system
generated trigger is when the screen is
kept idle for long and it locks it
automatically.
A real world example of an automatic
trigger is the smoke detector that
sprinkles water when the smoke is
detected.
Rules are the actions that happen when
a microinteraction is triggered.
Feedback lets people know what action
has happened. It could be anything visual
or audio or haptic [2].
Loops and Modes are the final elements.
They determine what happens with the
microinteractions over time. What
happens when the rules change or expire.
1.3 Why do we need
microinteractions?
Make it easier to interact with an app or
a website
Provides feedback
Encourages user interactions
Gives a personal and more human touch
Makes the browsing experience fun and
engaging
1.4 Successful microinteractions
Some micro-interactions are so engaging
that they almost become a habit for the
user. Like swiping left or right to switch
between elements or holding on an
Instagram story to read the text. When
interactions are done correctly, they can
give positive feelings about a product,
but not all microinteractions have a
positive disposition towards a product.
When overdone they create nothing but
distraction and confusion for the user.
Some of the features of a positive and
successful microinteractions are [2]:
a. Should be consistent
b. Only slightly noticeable before
they start fading away.
c. Should be simple and small
d. Doesn’t distract or bore the
user
1.5 Inconsistent microinteractions
As users start using a website or
application repeatedly, they’re likely to
start developing habits. Cues cause users
to look in the same place regularly in
order to access information or finish a
task [4]. If the user consistently repeats a
behavior, it becomes almost automatic
and habitual the next time they’re
looking to perform the same action.
But not all the micro-interactions are
consistent in multiple apps and this
results in blunders as people are used to
doing things habitually.
a. Instagram story hold

4. Most of the people didn’t know
that you can tap and hold the
story to read what’s written on it.
When Instagram first introduced
the story feature, it did not give
any tutorial to read the text on the
stories that people post and
people just assumed that it was a
bad design [5].
b. Double-tap to like
You know you are addicted to
Instagram when you double tap
on Facebook to like a picture. This
is one of the ways users make
errors because of not having a
consistent micro-interaction.
2. Consistent micro-interactions:
‘Brains are happier when they don’t think’
[8]. Almost 40% of the actions that
people perform in a day are habits [4].
Habits are something we repeatedly do,
and micro-interactions live on repeated
use as they become easier to remember
[7]. When users do something out of
habit, they want that action to happen
everywhere. For basics, if Ctrl+c copies an
item in one application, then the same
action should happen at other places too
with the same key combination so as to
not confuse the user. Similarly, the
interactions should be consistent too.
“Duhigg breaks down how habits are
formed into a very simple habit loop:
1. A cue triggers your brain to respond in a
certain way
2. You respond by doing a routine or
action, which could be physical, mental,
or emotional
3. A reward is given for doing the routine,
telling your brain that the habit is worth
repeating in the future.” [4]
Source
Repeat visitors learn over time where to
access content, and these behaviors then
become habits. If content is moved or
modified in any way, it can be
disorienting as well as frustrating for
users, who expect to find the content
based on their previous behaviors. Major
redesigns can especially be disruptive to
the user experience, even if the change is
for the good. Recognize that a new
interface may cause users to become
disoriented and confused even in
performing the most basic tasks. Users
will need to change their habits to
complete their old tasks.
When it comes to digital experiences, this
is even difficult, as users can quickly get
impatient and frustrated if they have to
change their digital routines. To deal with

5. this change, I guess some of these
options should be used [4]:
a. The changes made should be slow
and gradual by doing small things
at a time.
b. Some key metrics should be there
to determine whether there is
need for change or not. Or to
check the impact of the change.
c. If a new routine is included, some
tutorials should be given along
with it so that there is less
confusion around it. Eg. The
Instagram story hold micro-
interaction.
d. Don’t make changes just for the
sake of doing it. Just because an
app is making some changes,
doesn’t mean you need to have
the same interaction in your
product. If it’s not relevant to your
target group, it might result in
confusion and therefore less
usage of your product.
Using apps have become second nature
now. An app can only run successful if the
user can easily navigate through it. It can
have new and unique features or
microinteractions, but the basic actions
should be the same.
A smartphone has 2 types of apps,
system and downloaded. The
microinteractions are pretty much the
same for both the kinds of apps. To
compare:
1. Swipe left/ right
Gallery in system apps
Tabs in downloaded apps
Because of the consistency, the user
knows that swiping left or right will
present him with a previous or next
option respectively. It helps the user
to quickly switch between elements.
This is an example of tabs from my own
SDI project. The tabs can be switched by
swiping left or right.
2. Hold for option
In every app, holding for a few
seconds on the screen provides the
user with a menu.
3. Pinching in/out for adjusting zoom
Rather than the +/- buttons, this
gesture based micro-interaction
adjusts the zoom of the screen, be it

6. a photo in the gallery or a pdf
document.
This is a screen from my disciplinary studio
project where I’ve used the google maps to
show the location of the cab. The pinch
microinteraction is used here to zoom in
or out of the map.
4. Pull to refresh
Just like F5 key in the keyboard has a
consistent function of reloading or
refreshing in Windows OS, the Pull-
to-refresh is an interaction that has
become a second nature to people
using social media apps to stay
updated.
5. Slide to delete mail or get options
(Trending now)
Relatively new micro-interaction that
allows the user to delete mail or get
extra options.
6. Hold to select multiple
A very old but very common
interaction that is used in almost
every app. You can select multiple
pictures or documents or mail and
then delete multiple items at once.
The transaction history page from my SDI. I
have not included the feature in the app but if
I were to use any interaction for this, I would
choose the hold to select option to delete
multiple transaction histories.
Some consistent microinteractions
become so popular that they become
“Signature Moments’. Signature
moments are the interactions that help in
building a product’s customer loyalty
and brand recognition such as Facebook
like button, which has become a part of
the brand now.
3. Conclusion:
Even though small Designing consistent
microinteractions not only makes the app
easier to use but also allows users to use

7. the app repeatedly without any
confusion or distraction. It helps in
developing habits as the person will be
performing the same interaction in
multiple apps and doing the same thing
regularly and repeatedly becomes a habit
eventually. A user does not want to think
when using the product and doing
something out of habit means doing
something without thinking and this is
why it is important to build
microinteractions that create and shape
our habits of using digital products.
References:
1.Microinteractions. Slideshare.net, 2018. https://www.slideshare.net/dansaffer/microinteractions-
46322636.
2.Fanguy, W. How microinteractions improve your UX design. Invisionapp.com, 2018.
https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/use-microinteractions-improve-ux-design/.
3.Microinteractions: Details that Are Not the Details | Stampede. Stampede, 2018. https://stampede-
design.com/blog/details-not-details/#.W9ywzZMzbIU.
4.Shedd, C. How Habits Can Impact User Behavior. inspireUX, 2018.
http://www.inspireux.com/2013/03/30/how-habits-can-impact-user-behavior/.
5.Griffin, A. How the hell am I supposed to read Instagram Stories so quickly?. Quartzy, 2018.
https://qz.com/quartzy/1369842/yes-you-can-pause-instagram-stories/.
6.Saffer, D. and Norman, D. Microinteractions. O'Reilly Media, Beijing [etc.], 2014.
7.Cousins, C. Why micro-interactions are the secret to great design. The Next Web, 2018.
https://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/08/17/why-micro-interactions-are-the-secret-to-great-design/.
8.Margalit, L. How to Create Habit-Forming Experiences?. Red Orbit, 2018. https://www.red-
orbit.com/blog/create-habit-forming-experiences.