Heres a link to the original article in case you haven’t read it: http://worrydream.com/ABriefRantOnTheFutureOfInteractionDesign/
(This blog is for class so I do assume a certain audience is actually going to read this)
As it turns out I have thought about the future of technology and design quite a bit, and have formed some radical opinions which I hold for unfounded, ridiculous reasons. In some ways I find my distaste for new shiny technological advancements somewhat ironic because I am a computer programmer and designer. I AM the wave of the future. However, this also means that I have a say in which direction we’re headed.
On the whole I don’t like smartphones or touchscreen in general. They are very cool and sleek, but hard to work with. They tend to be small, finicky, and most importantly they don’t go *click*. When I’m typing, I can feel they keys, keys click, click*click*click, I hear it, and even without looking I can tell what I’m typing and have a definite sense that letters are appearing onscreen. Additionally we are limited by screens being two-dimensional objects in a three-dimensional world, something will always be lacking there.
Despite all the claims the article makes if we actually examine the video we can still see touches of a better future. The attendant at the hotel flips over the transparent info-card for more information on the client, and the data which populates the space (on the walls, the window of the taxi highlighting the meeting area) still has some merit. More than just how we interact with technology we can see here that the video’s version of the world of the future is made up of a constant influx of information. Importantly, information is traded easily to those who need to know, and the division between a personal device and a public terminal fades away (much like “cloud computing” and “cloud storage” and “cloud stuff”). Technology is less about the hard, and more about the soft.
Theres more flowy, glowy stuff, and less concrete solid stuff. Perhaps this developed because technical limitations have been fading away as better and better hardware becomes available.
Look at the aesthetic of the future. Everything is white, with a soft glow, full of gradients, simple elegant vector art, with a focus on brighter colors and ease of use for the user. I call this the “iFuture.” The world of the gentle white gradient.
I do not like this.
Perhaps I’m just resentful that technology is becoming easier to use. People can do innumerable things without understanding a single piece of it, accessing complex internet protocols or performing advanced image manipulation with the simple click of a button, all the while having no idea about the glorious underlying mathematics. Maybe I don’t like that in order to make technology more “user friendly” it loses out on underlying functionality. Have you ever stared at a device and said “you ought to be able to do this? I know you can.” and known that the only reason it wouldn’t is because some designer didn’t deign to let us use our own technology how we want to? The “walled garden” of Apple, pretty on the inside but hard to get out of.
I also like thing because they are ridiculous, I enjoy watching bad movies to see how campy they are, and over-the-top 80s post-apocalyptic science fiction appeals to me in some strange way. My future would have more corners, and brass, and be a whole lot more complicated.
Try typing “help” into a terminal, depending on which shell you’re using it will probably say “Command not found.” Yeah! A future where technology still holds some of its mystique, where its not all clean and clear cut but still has edges and holes, and gears. Technology which is hard to use, and can do anything if you know how and shake it hard enough a few times.
In all seriousness however, while I find most “modern” looks to be clean and sleek and professional, I do find them a bit boring. I also find it interesting how much technology we use every day and don’t understand. Some might argue that the entire goal of technology and computing is to boil down technical details in a way which allows for everyone to make use of them. Think of how much more you can do when you have a bit of know-how, small hacking projects, making your own games, fixing your own stuff when it breaks, even speeding up work by automating it (rather than trying to work inside the walled garden some designer provided you). I like to think of technology like the Wizard of Oz. You can either prance around in the field of poppies, or learn how to use a microphone and some lighting tricks and rule as a god.
