Have you ever used a physical typewriter before? If so you may know a bit more than the current generations know about this question. The old long-handed key typewriters had one problem when the first "keyboard" was laid out: it was too fast for the physical hands to keep up. The reason the letters were jumbled up a bit in to the current version of a keyboard is because the typists were too fast on a more straight-forward set of keys and the old typewriters couldn't keep up.
Fast forward to today with modern UI work for websites, mobile apps, etc. Can these interfaces be too fast and efficient? Is there ever a benefit to slowing down? That is the question posed in this excellent article:
https://econsultancy.com/blog/69101-why-increasingly-efficient-ux-might-not-always-be-a-good-thing/
Here is a snippet from the piece:
A recent leader in The Economist raised my interest in the little discussed area of ‘facile externality’.
The Economist summed up the concept as follows:
"Efficiency is at the heart of progress. Yet just as too much of a good thing (travel, say) can yield a bad (congestion), so excessive ease in transactions can generate costs, known in the jargon as a “facile externality”, such that less efficiency would actually be more efficient. In academic circles…. the notion is well established that innovations which eliminate too much hassle could do society harm."
The article continues, stating that "a few companies have recognised the benefits of restoring friction. Research into “the Ikea effect”, named in honour of those happy hours spent with an Allen key, a Billy bookcase and a rising hatred of Sweden, shows that people put extra value on things when they devote their own labour to them."
Happy Reading,
J.W. Gant
The Economist summed up the concept as follows:
"Efficiency is at the heart of progress. Yet just as too much of a good thing (travel, say) can yield a bad (congestion), so excessive ease in transactions can generate costs, known in the jargon as a “facile externality”, such that less efficiency would actually be more efficient. In academic circles…. the notion is well established that innovations which eliminate too much hassle could do society harm."
The article continues, stating that "a few companies have recognised the benefits of restoring friction. Research into “the Ikea effect”, named in honour of those happy hours spent with an Allen key, a Billy bookcase and a rising hatred of Sweden, shows that people put extra value on things when they devote their own labour to them."
Happy Reading,
J.W. Gant
No comments:
Post a Comment