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The Best Interface Is No Interface: The simple path to brilliant technology (Voices That Matter) Paperback – February 20, 2015
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December 28, 2024
A ‘USER EXPERIENCE DESIGNER’ DOESN’T LIKE OUR PROLIFERATION OF ‘SCREENS’
Author ‘Golden Krishna’ wrote in the Introduction of this 2015 book, “I don’t know why you bought this book. It’s the 21st century, and books are dead. You would think someone buying a book about technology would know that. And it’s not like this is the next great American novel. This is a technology theory book. About INTERFACES. Cure your boredom and regret. Well, maybe you purchased this book because it is expanded from one of the most shared design essays in the past decade. Maybe you saw my keynote at South by Southwest that some called the best of the year. Or maybe you just ignored comments like this on the Internet: ‘This guy is a clown.’ That’s a real Internet comment about me, and you know what? It’s probably a solid point… Here I am, preaching THE BEST INTERFACE IS YADA YADA, and technically, I’m not even using the word ‘interface’ correctly.” (Pg. 3)
He continues, “The common use of ‘interface’ has morphed from its dictionary definition… to short for a ‘graphical user interface’ (the thing with the buttons and icons you see on a computer screen)… be warned: this book will routinely substitute ‘interface’ for ‘graphical user interface.’ … Enough with the semantics. This book is about an idea. It’s an urgent call to action. One of the most revered inventions of the past fifty years is leading us down a terrible path… Our love for the digital interface is out of control. And our obsession with it is ruining the future of innovation.” (Pg. 3-4)
He explains, “I’m a user experience (UX) designer. This means my job is to understand your common, everyday problems and to use technology to solve them… My job is to solve people’s problems, but as an industry we’ve gotten away from solving people’s problems. As an industry, we’ve gotten caught up in a globally evident technological impotence of me-too thinking that is taking us away from real innovation.” (Pg. 30-31)
He suggests, “We can build better, more efficient, more elegant technology products that have no distracting interface at all. The best distracting interface is no distracting interface, and we can get there together.” (Pg. 62)
He observes, “today, instead of paper, our lives are inundated with screens. Your workplace isn’t any good if you don’t have at least two monitors on your desk. Your smartphone isn’t decent if it’s not at least five inches long. Your car is considered outdated if [it] doesn’t have a touchscreen… American children aged 0 to 8 are already estimated to be exposed to screens for over 2 hours a day. Kids age eight to eighteen for an average of seven and a half hours a day. And adults? We’re exposed to screens for eight and a half hours a day… The sad thing is, a lot of the screen time is a burden. A hurdle for our goals… Interfaces have gone far beyond the workplace. They now steal us away from seeing, interacting, and talking to people around us, they hinder our community-building and our intimate relationships… I think it’s time to dream of a screenless world. I sincerely think the best interface is no interface, and I’d like to show you how we can get there… The best result for any technology is to solve meaningful problems in impactful ways.” (Pg. 79-80)
He states, “The movement to link software to software and create subscription-based services that make the computer serve you is still in early stages… The philosophy is embraced by more manual, hackerish service … which allows you to create recipes so that if something happens in one digital space, you make something else happen in another digital space… These invisible kinds of subscription-based applications point toward a refreshing future. Instead of more gadgets, more software to manage, and more digital chores to take care of, these background robots will remove your digital chores. The computer will serve your needs… When it’s time for computers to free us for us to be more productive, well, let’s take that option. Let’s have the almighty computer serve us.” (Pg. 157)
He acknowledges, “A lot of people won’t like this book. I don’t blame them. Some of those people have built robust processes around making screens and graphical user interfaces, and over the years they have gotten really damn good at it. Maybe they’ve sold those ideas to clients for lots of money, shared those ideas at conferences or in classrooms around the world, and built their reputation around being experts in screen-based thinking. That’s how they earn their living; maybe that’s even how they made a fortune. So, for me to say that what they are good at doing … is actually the wrong way to go is definitely not going to rub those people the right way… I get that. That’s part of questioning the norm. Asking the industry to go in a different direction means backlash… This book is a collection of founding principles written in a manner to convince, encourage, and inspire. To present a simple philosophy that can produce brilliant technology… The hope, of course… [is] to push the industry forward.” (Pg. 185-186)
He concludes, “The goal of this book is to be enriching and entertaining to guide you toward a new direction in user interface theory in a way that doesn’t sound as painful, dreadful, and nauseating as USER INTERFACE THEORY. Maybe it’s even enjoyable to read that you’ll pass this tech book along to someone else and have him enjoy it, too.” (Pg. 207)
This book will interest those studying modern technology, etc.
Author ‘Golden Krishna’ wrote in the Introduction of this 2015 book, “I don’t know why you bought this book. It’s the 21st century, and books are dead. You would think someone buying a book about technology would know that. And it’s not like this is the next great American novel. This is a technology theory book. About INTERFACES. Cure your boredom and regret. Well, maybe you purchased this book because it is expanded from one of the most shared design essays in the past decade. Maybe you saw my keynote at South by Southwest that some called the best of the year. Or maybe you just ignored comments like this on the Internet: ‘This guy is a clown.’ That’s a real Internet comment about me, and you know what? It’s probably a solid point… Here I am, preaching THE BEST INTERFACE IS YADA YADA, and technically, I’m not even using the word ‘interface’ correctly.” (Pg. 3)
He continues, “The common use of ‘interface’ has morphed from its dictionary definition… to short for a ‘graphical user interface’ (the thing with the buttons and icons you see on a computer screen)… be warned: this book will routinely substitute ‘interface’ for ‘graphical user interface.’ … Enough with the semantics. This book is about an idea. It’s an urgent call to action. One of the most revered inventions of the past fifty years is leading us down a terrible path… Our love for the digital interface is out of control. And our obsession with it is ruining the future of innovation.” (Pg. 3-4)
He explains, “I’m a user experience (UX) designer. This means my job is to understand your common, everyday problems and to use technology to solve them… My job is to solve people’s problems, but as an industry we’ve gotten away from solving people’s problems. As an industry, we’ve gotten caught up in a globally evident technological impotence of me-too thinking that is taking us away from real innovation.” (Pg. 30-31)
He suggests, “We can build better, more efficient, more elegant technology products that have no distracting interface at all. The best distracting interface is no distracting interface, and we can get there together.” (Pg. 62)
He observes, “today, instead of paper, our lives are inundated with screens. Your workplace isn’t any good if you don’t have at least two monitors on your desk. Your smartphone isn’t decent if it’s not at least five inches long. Your car is considered outdated if [it] doesn’t have a touchscreen… American children aged 0 to 8 are already estimated to be exposed to screens for over 2 hours a day. Kids age eight to eighteen for an average of seven and a half hours a day. And adults? We’re exposed to screens for eight and a half hours a day… The sad thing is, a lot of the screen time is a burden. A hurdle for our goals… Interfaces have gone far beyond the workplace. They now steal us away from seeing, interacting, and talking to people around us, they hinder our community-building and our intimate relationships… I think it’s time to dream of a screenless world. I sincerely think the best interface is no interface, and I’d like to show you how we can get there… The best result for any technology is to solve meaningful problems in impactful ways.” (Pg. 79-80)
He states, “The movement to link software to software and create subscription-based services that make the computer serve you is still in early stages… The philosophy is embraced by more manual, hackerish service … which allows you to create recipes so that if something happens in one digital space, you make something else happen in another digital space… These invisible kinds of subscription-based applications point toward a refreshing future. Instead of more gadgets, more software to manage, and more digital chores to take care of, these background robots will remove your digital chores. The computer will serve your needs… When it’s time for computers to free us for us to be more productive, well, let’s take that option. Let’s have the almighty computer serve us.” (Pg. 157)
He acknowledges, “A lot of people won’t like this book. I don’t blame them. Some of those people have built robust processes around making screens and graphical user interfaces, and over the years they have gotten really damn good at it. Maybe they’ve sold those ideas to clients for lots of money, shared those ideas at conferences or in classrooms around the world, and built their reputation around being experts in screen-based thinking. That’s how they earn their living; maybe that’s even how they made a fortune. So, for me to say that what they are good at doing … is actually the wrong way to go is definitely not going to rub those people the right way… I get that. That’s part of questioning the norm. Asking the industry to go in a different direction means backlash… This book is a collection of founding principles written in a manner to convince, encourage, and inspire. To present a simple philosophy that can produce brilliant technology… The hope, of course… [is] to push the industry forward.” (Pg. 185-186)
He concludes, “The goal of this book is to be enriching and entertaining to guide you toward a new direction in user interface theory in a way that doesn’t sound as painful, dreadful, and nauseating as USER INTERFACE THEORY. Maybe it’s even enjoyable to read that you’ll pass this tech book along to someone else and have him enjoy it, too.” (Pg. 207)
This book will interest those studying modern technology, etc.
Displaying 1 of 1 review