Week 10 – Reading Response
A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design:
This text provides thoughtful critiques of current visions of future technology. The author speaks about reassessing our hands, not as tools for swiping but as instruments of manipulation. One of the points the author made that I found interesting was the contrast between tying shoelaces by touch and trying to do it with numb fingers. This made me reflect on how easily we accept one-dimensional interactions with our devices. However, that being said, the main idea of the text was not to be anti-technology, but rather call for better, more human design.
After reading this, I reflected on how I think about interactive design. I came to a realization that I have become extremely compliant in accepting the current state of touchscreens and “smart” devices when in reality, they usually feel flat and disconnected from our full human range. It made me question things like why we aren’t advancing into interfaces that are more engaging with the entire body and not just a single fingertip.
Responses: A Brief Rant on the Future of Interaction Design:
This is a brutally honest text that embraces criticism, clarifying the purpose of the original piece and not proposing the solution, but rather sparking the right kind of thinking. Something I found memorable in this text was the author’s defense of incomplete visions, where rather than pretending to know the future, he leans into uncertainty. This encourages thorough research into unfamiliar areas like tangible interfaces, haptics, and dynamic materials. To me, it served as a reminder that good design doesn’t necessarily come from certainty, but from curiosity and exploration. I appreciated the comparison he made to photography in 1900, black-and-white film was revolutionary then, however, we didn’t stop there.
This text made me reflect on the fact that valuable critique doesn’t always solve problems directly, but sometimes, it can just help us ask better questions. Additionally, it emphasized how modern design usually overlooks the human body instead of embracing it. We see many instances where rather than crafting tools that align with our physical capabilities, we’re designing around them. Overall, we all need to push ourselves to question what type of future we’re shaping, and if we are ready to imagine something a lot more meaningful than a world controlled by simple swipes and glass screens.