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I found the article somewhat light on useful examples; however the premise is very interesting, so I would like to bring a couple of my own examples to the tabl
by DenisM 14y ago
I found the article somewhat light on useful examples; however the premise is very interesting, so I would like to bring a couple of my own examples to the table:
In a restaurant named "The Herb Farm" in Seattle area you don't pay when you eat, you pay before the dinner, when making a reservation by phone (the menu is prix-fixe). So when you're done eating you just walk out - no waiting for the check, no computing tips, none of that nonsense that should not be part of a pleasant dinner. It's incredibly liberating, in a way I would never understood if I was only told about it.
For another example, when you arrive to the restaurant "Canlis" they help you out of the car, and then you walk right into the place. When you're done eating, you walk right out and your car is already back there. They spot you on the way to the door and reshuffle the cars so that yours is at the front. So you just walk out, get in the car and drive off. As it turned out, searching for a place to park, parking, pocketing the keys etc etc is a huge mental overhead. I only realized that when I was liberated from it. The typical "valet" service actually does nothing for me - there is still overhead of asking for your car, waiting for it to be brought, tipping the valet. Meh.
Both places are charging a pretty penny for their services, so they can afford the "luxury" of good service, including good wages to the employees who make it possible. Sadly, neither does both of these things, which is still an open niche in Seattle dining. But more to the point at hand: where the restaurants make good service at cost of quality labor, computer systems could do the same at cost of good engineering, that is remove unnecessary delays and accidental complexity.
- goldenkrishna 14y agoI'm flattered. And thankful to have my essay be voted to #3 on Hacker News. I'm speaking at SXSW 2013 about "the best interface is not interface." This is an evolving idea, and I hope to have some gaps filled by the time I speak in March. So thank you all for your feedback. I'm collecting more examples at nointerface.tumblr.com. It's meant to be an inspiration site for people interested in this movement. It's an idea Tumblr. And starting mid-January, I'm hoping to have two new posts a week, but that's mostly dependent on finding great examples. So, please tweet any to @goldenkrishna...Il give credit, of course.
- tetha 14y ago> So when you're done eating you just walk out - no waiting for the check, no computing tips, none of that nonsense that should not be part of a pleasant dinner. I dunno. If service and food was good, I like commending the staff about it. It would feel awkward to approach the staff without any reason, because I paid earlier already. Granted, I think this is the metaphor breaking. Interacting with the staff isn't just an interface, it's interacting with humans.
- MatthewPhillips 14y agoYour first example doesn't make sense to me. Why is the restaurant optimizing for the leaving experience? They should be optimizing for the eating experience. Like deciding to get an extra appetizer because the people you're with got one that looks really good. Or deciding to break your diet and get the dessert anyways.
- DenisM 14y agoIt's prix fixe, the dinner consists of 14 courses and lasts over 3 or 4 hours. You don't get to chose food any more than you get to chose music. There's an exception for extra wine (that comes with a bill), but few people take it as what's sever is plentiful and well mar matched. And there is plenty of interaction with people about food, just none about things that aren't food.
- DanBC 14y agoTurning tables is important for some restaurants, more so than getting an extra appetiser or dessert.