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Bruce Tognazzini said, “The only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else is learned.” After watching a premature baby struggle to breastfeed, Bruce w

Bruce Tognazzini said, “The only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else is learned.” After watching a premature baby struggle to breastfeed, Bruce was wrong — there are no intuitive interfaces. Everything is learned. In software UX the only ways to make intuitive-seeming interfaces are to borrow successful patterns from elsewhere. Then humans who have learned those interfaces will have skills transfer to your interfaces. This is why Apple, Microsoft, Google all have such rich and deep interface guidelines. They’re trying to teach you, the designer/developer, how to communicate with their users that have been trained on those interfaces. Of course people can think their way through new things, or trial and error, but that’s not what we mean by “intuitive.” Intuition is rapid pattern-matching, and it only works when the new patterns are close enough to the old.

gerdesj 2y ago
"Bruce Tognazzini said ... " That's a wee bit trite. Every day billions of newly born/hatched/sprouted organisms do what is "baked in". I have no idea how or why that particular baby (I assume you mean a human one) struggled to breastfeed. However you literally mention "premature baby". I'll give a counter example or 10: I have seen quite a few nature documentaries that involved birth and suckling or similar initial care, without any sign of learning. Last week I watched a sperm whale calf being born and then searching for and latching on a teat within around a minute. That's in the ocean. The baby weighs about a tonne and mum weighs about 15. She will be moving around and so does the ocean. Despite all that the baby manages to swim, locate a nipple, feed, surface to breathe and so on with minimal assistance. Humans have hands and can pick up their offspring and direct all operations. A kangaroo joey has to climb up mum and find the pouch, climb in and find the nipple. I recall that mum licks a trail for it to follow (or perhaps I've gone all ChatGPT - I'm not a biologist) A random Apple employee is perhaps not best placed to make comparisons between computer interfaces and the natural world, involving birth. The very fact that you can read this comment, almost certainly means that you, when you were a new born baby was able to find your mother's teat and you did it without any prompting.
- selimthegrim 2y ago
  The book “I, mammal” gives some spectacular examples of this

gerdesj 2y ago

"Bruce Tognazzini said ... " That's a wee bit trite. Every day billions of newly born/hatched/sprouted organisms do what is "baked in". I have no idea how or why that particular baby (I assume you mean a human one) struggled to breastfeed. However you literally mention "premature baby". I'll give a counter example or 10: I have seen quite a few nature documentaries that involved birth and suckling or similar initial care, without any sign of learning. Last week I watched a sperm whale calf being born and then searching for and latching on a teat within around a minute. That's in the ocean. The baby weighs about a tonne and mum weighs about 15. She will be moving around and so does the ocean. Despite all that the baby manages to swim, locate a nipple, feed, surface to breathe and so on with minimal assistance. Humans have hands and can pick up their offspring and direct all operations. A kangaroo joey has to climb up mum and find the pouch, climb in and find the nipple. I recall that mum licks a trail for it to follow (or perhaps I've gone all ChatGPT - I'm not a biologist) A random Apple employee is perhaps not best placed to make comparisons between computer interfaces and the natural world, involving birth. The very fact that you can read this comment, almost certainly means that you, when you were a new born baby was able to find your mother's teat and you did it without any prompting.

selimthegrim 2y ago
The book “I, mammal” gives some spectacular examples of this