Back to the Future

Things can be different in the world of digital technology. There is endless potential for software and digital products that are designed from the outset to help users reach their goals, instead of being programmed for the convenience of the computer.

The rise and fall of the New Economy has been a sober wakeup call to high-tech markets. Technology sales are down. People realize that they have all the horsepower and more features than they could ever want from last year's PCs and cell phones. What they don't have — and aren't getting from anyone — are products that are truly a pleasure to use. The industry has received a vote of no confidence from consumers who are tired of useless add-on features, and looking, futile though the quest may be, for solutions that address their real problems. The design of products that meet user needs through appropriate behaviors is the future of the industry — the only future that makes sense. The New Economy must be about meeting the real needs of real people, not about the inexorable march of technology, crushing us all under its silicon-heeled boots.

We hope that this book has made a difference to you, and to the rest of the practitioners who have it on their shelves. It's been a hard, uphill struggle for us interaction designers to get where we are now, and the challenges aren't over yet. But as long as there are people who see, as we do, the importance of the human side of technology, and are not willing to let the technologists forget it, we have the hope of a brighter, more human future.




About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
About Face 2.0(c) The Essentials of Interaction Design
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 263

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