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There’s no longer anything that qualifies as intuitive design, and training isn’t really enough. I say this as someone who’s been designing and using computers

There’s no longer anything that qualifies as intuitive design, and training isn’t really enough. I say this as someone who’s been designing and using computers since the Osborne 1, who can’t use his own iPhone 7 when my girlfriend gives it back to me, and who can’t verbally explain to said girlfriend how to gesture effectively on my iPhone XR. It doesn’t work when I re-install Linux after not using it for merely 3 years, even though my WordStar sense memory is stronger than vi, emacs and Word on both Mac and Windows. What the hell did they do to Gnome!? I do UI and UX testing when rolling out enterprise and web apps, but design..!? It’s temporal and artificial. It’s not actually foundational, like thumbs and squatting.

sizzle 7y ago
How might we solve this problem? It seems that gesture input is impossible to standardize simply for the fact that the signifiers are invisible and the use cases/edge cases are complex from a human factors perspective.
- jvagner 7y ago
  All of these metaphors are pretty temporal. It changes so often I’m not sure we “solve” it. I taught community college for a spell, computers 101. When you go back to the very beginning and have to explain desktops and folders and files and file types to the same people who have little to no familiarity with moving a mouse... it’s profound how un-intuitive all of computing is... from the very beginning. I think of this when I switch between Windows machines and Macs and their scrolling directions are opposite of each other. That said, I’ve never taught my son how to type and I’ve never explained computers to him. He’s the kind of kid who figured out iPads and iPhones on his own, at a young age. And he is definitely a fast touch typist, all on his own. Maybe “intuitive UI” metaphors aren’t helpful here. Computers are lived experiences, like homes and hotel rooms and cars. Think of the car you drive now, and how familiar it is, and think of the car you had 10 or 20 years ago. Get in that older car and it won’t be familiar right out the gate. We have hundreds of interfaces that we live with... kitchens, rooms, appliances, spaces we navigate in the dark, cars, office layouts, TV interfaces, etc. Most are shockingly poor interface experiences, and the brands/models that have them usually don’t maintain them. And we switch those pretty regularly with little thought to the next relative to the last. Because it would be maddening to be held to those things as we try and move along in our lives. Example: I used to have a Volkswagen CC. Two things I loved about it: the auto-hold button (keeps brakes engaged and you can lift your foot off during stop-and-go traffic). and a “Jump” button on radio that could be programmed to go to any preset in memory. So, if you program your satellite radio stations in order of preference, you could hit Jump and go back to the first preset. Lovely feature. That no subsequent VW or Audi I test drove afterwards kept those features has puzzled me ever since. Live and long... for old interfaces, better interfaces, etc.
  - sizzle 7y ago
    Thanks for sharing your unique perspective. With the recent advent of VUI (voice user interface e.g. Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant) and the fact it will eventually pass the uncanny valley given sufficient iterations/user feedback/time, do you see this as the start of a paradigm shift from an era of error prone, unusable gesture-based computing devices to seamlessly intuitive natural voice-driven experiences?
    - jvagner 7y ago
      I may lack the imagination to see how VUI will be the predominant interface paradigm for computing. People often need to stop speaking, and often ask for silence, when they need to think. Thinking and Talking is definitely a useful modality (think, relationship discussions, brainstorming), but Thinking and Non-verbalism is also a necessary way to function. Think of when your partner goes silent in a conversation and you look over and they're starting at their phone, or doing something on their phone. People can't talk and do something else at the same time. I work from home. I often wake up, go for a run, eat breakfast, sit at my computer, begin my workday, and when my first conference call of the day begins... find myself a little rusty at speaking. It seems like "talking" has a spin-up cycle for some people. I don't want to talk to my computers... so I haven't yet developed any positive notions of living with a VUI.

sizzle 7y ago

How might we solve this problem? It seems that gesture input is impossible to standardize simply for the fact that the signifiers are invisible and the use cases/edge cases are complex from a human factors perspective.

jvagner 7y ago
All of these metaphors are pretty temporal. It changes so often I’m not sure we “solve” it. I taught community college for a spell, computers 101. When you go back to the very beginning and have to explain desktops and folders and files and file types to the same people who have little to no familiarity with moving a mouse... it’s profound how un-intuitive all of computing is... from the very beginning. I think of this when I switch between Windows machines and Macs and their scrolling directions are opposite of each other. That said, I’ve never taught my son how to type and I’ve never explained computers to him. He’s the kind of kid who figured out iPads and iPhones on his own, at a young age. And he is definitely a fast touch typist, all on his own. Maybe “intuitive UI” metaphors aren’t helpful here. Computers are lived experiences, like homes and hotel rooms and cars. Think of the car you drive now, and how familiar it is, and think of the car you had 10 or 20 years ago. Get in that older car and it won’t be familiar right out the gate. We have hundreds of interfaces that we live with... kitchens, rooms, appliances, spaces we navigate in the dark, cars, office layouts, TV interfaces, etc. Most are shockingly poor interface experiences, and the brands/models that have them usually don’t maintain them. And we switch those pretty regularly with little thought to the next relative to the last. Because it would be maddening to be held to those things as we try and move along in our lives. Example: I used to have a Volkswagen CC. Two things I loved about it: the auto-hold button (keeps brakes engaged and you can lift your foot off during stop-and-go traffic). and a “Jump” button on radio that could be programmed to go to any preset in memory. So, if you program your satellite radio stations in order of preference, you could hit Jump and go back to the first preset. Lovely feature. That no subsequent VW or Audi I test drove afterwards kept those features has puzzled me ever since. Live and long... for old interfaces, better interfaces, etc.
- sizzle 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing your unique perspective. With the recent advent of VUI (voice user interface e.g. Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant) and the fact it will eventually pass the uncanny valley given sufficient iterations/user feedback/time, do you see this as the start of a paradigm shift from an era of error prone, unusable gesture-based computing devices to seamlessly intuitive natural voice-driven experiences?
  - jvagner 7y ago
    I may lack the imagination to see how VUI will be the predominant interface paradigm for computing. People often need to stop speaking, and often ask for silence, when they need to think. Thinking and Talking is definitely a useful modality (think, relationship discussions, brainstorming), but Thinking and Non-verbalism is also a necessary way to function. Think of when your partner goes silent in a conversation and you look over and they're starting at their phone, or doing something on their phone. People can't talk and do something else at the same time. I work from home. I often wake up, go for a run, eat breakfast, sit at my computer, begin my workday, and when my first conference call of the day begins... find myself a little rusty at speaking. It seems like "talking" has a spin-up cycle for some people. I don't want to talk to my computers... so I haven't yet developed any positive notions of living with a VUI.