Posted by: Michael Disabato
I am constantly amazed at the range of interface designs on web pages and smartphones. One would think greater care would be taken with the face of a product that stares back at a customer on a regular basis and either facilitates, inhibits, or, as is often the case, frustrates the person a company is trying to reach.
My insights into interface design come from my son, Nick. He has written a pamphlet called, "Functional Interface Concepts" (www.nickd.org) that will provoke some interesting thinking about web sites and smartphones. The most interesting part of this was the section on "vanishing cognitive cost" where he states, "An interface should be understood at a minimal cognitive cost, which vanishes after enough practice." I have had devices that I could not seem to learn no matter how much time I spent with them. Others just seemed to become an extension of my brain and disappeared from conscious thought after a short time.
The next handset war will not be fought over content, applications, or which network a device connects to. It will be over ease of use. The late Mark Wieser once said, "The most profound technologies are those that disappear. They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it." That is precisely where we are headed with our mobile devices. Those of you who have seen Star Trek: The Next Generation, may have noticed the effortless way the characters use their universal data pads. (Yeah, yeah, it's a tv show, bear with me.) The point here, is the pads are well integrated into their lives. The point is our smartphones are becoming integrated into our lives.
The key to acceptance is simple. Devices and the content on them must evolve to become seamless parts of the casual things we do every day. Enjoy the ride and the experiments to follow.
Michael
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