The iPod and iPhone revolutionized technology by shifting our proximity to gadgets as a whole. Back then, technology was rather static. Computers were stuck to desk space and audio players were clipped awkwardly onto the body. Interacting with technology meant moving spaces— going to the record store, playing at the arcade… Now, we’re living in them.
The iPod promised “1,000 songs in your pocket”, and since then, technology became intrinsically personal and portable. The iPhone then completed this preliminary work. It did not just bring music with it— it brought everything with it: communication, navigation, entertainment, work, personal memories… and the categories keep growing. That “personal” familiarity changed our expectations, however. For one, we stopped tolerating friction. We consider things badly designed when we find that they interrupt us or waste our time. Don Norman, with his Norman door, echoes this by saying that good design is invisible. And by definition (from my spaghetti brain), invisible means fitting into the context in a way that meets our needs.
The iPhone’s multi-touch interface raised the bar, because it responded to natural human gestures. There was no need to memorize commands for new UI elements such as buttons. Early skeuomorphic designs eased that transition, because they borrowed familiar analog products so touchscreens didn’t feel too foreign. As a result, interaction designers needed to adapt to this revolutionary change. Mobile design is high-stakes because phones are always with people, and interactions are often micro and discontinuous. Designers, then, need to make every moment count: every swipe or animation competes not just for attention, but also for space in someone’s life.
With technology always at one’s fingertips, the experience of failure is very personal, indeed: glitches are annoying, at times frustrating, such as when delays occur. This feeling is amplified because this kind of technology is now essential and intimate. So then, we as interaction designers must always prevent these glitches and delays from happening. The moment a user loses trust in our product, the retention rate lowers, and then our stakeholders lose interest.