UX and the Civilizing Process

Raskin defines the ideal humane interface as “responsive to human needs and considerate of human frailties.”

The dominant school of thought when it comes to UI design in tech, at least that I’ve grown up with the past two decades, has centered around removing friction for users in accomplishing whatever it is they’re trying to do while delighting them in the process. The goal has been design that is elegant, in every sense of the word: intuitive, ingeniou... See more

If you know to look, you can feel the difference between software crafted with care for its users and systems of vacuous tradition that just happen to be good at producing the vapid fodder of convenience.

23:00 - 31:00 Discussion of striking a balance between maintaining the status quo vs coming up with new ways of interacting with computers so we don’t get stuck in a rut trying to translate everything too directly.

• It goes back to first principles. By and large, the reality is that a lot of usability is driven by the cognitive architecture that is... See more

Most of this book has been about building clarity into Web sites: making sure that users can understand what it is they’re looking at—and how to use it—without undue effort. Is it clear to people? Do they “get it”? But there’s another important component to usability: doing the right thing—being considerate of the user. Besides “Is my site clear?”

... See more

Many concepts that sound good on paper are infeasible to implement, or simply don’t produce the expected results. It’s frustrating when that happens, of course, but the pace of experimentation and learning at a startup is unparalleled. I think this is an especially important form of rigor for theorycels like me. Building product forces a different ... See more