The
Human
Interface
Christopher Fahey
graphpaper.com
@chrisfahey
#ixd10 #human

ROBOTS?

I HATE
ROBOTS!

PYGMALION

THE
REPLACEMENTS

THE
REPLACEMENTS

CYBORGS?

”As our worlds become smarter,
and get to know us better and
better, it becomes harder and
harder to say where the world
stops and the person begins.”
- Andy Clarke, “Natural Born Cyborgs”

THE
UNCANNY
VALLEY
(Masahiro Mori)

The Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley
(How comfortable
ACCEPTANCE
we feel around
the machine.)
FIDELITY
(How well the machine
mimics human
characteristics.)

The Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley

Lessons so far:
1. Don’t replace humans.
2. Don’t replicate humans.

Origins

What childhood
experiences most
powerfully influence your
approach to interaction
design today?

Childhood IxD Experiences
1. Taking things apart to see how they work
2. Fixing broken things
3. Creating little worlds

Why?
1. Interaction design is a creative form.
UX designers want to use technology and
design to create emotional, imaginative, and
deeply human experiences.

Why?
1. Interaction design is a creative form.
UX designers want to use technology and
design to create emotional, imaginative, and
deeply human experiences.
2. Change is in the air.
New technologies are converging to permit
new and more compelling interactions.

New Technologies
Image
recognition
Touch
Voice recognition
Gesture

New Technologies

Not so new

Not so new

Not so new

About the
“Human Interface”

“An interface is humane if it is
responsive to human needs and is
considerate of human frailties.”
- Jef Raskin, “The Humane Interface”

“Design can be easier when we
acknowledge that products share
our homes and malls, and have
wants and lives of their own.”
- Matt Webb, BERG

“If we want users to like our
software, we should design it to
behave like a likeable person.”
- Alan Cooper

We make better
products when we
think of them as
human beings.

“The role of technology is to
mirror our humanness. We were
born with everything we need:
good technology reminds us of
that.”
- Jack Dorsey (@jack), CEO Twitter

The Human Interface...
... is about persuasion and seduction
... is smart and has awareness
... is physical, embodied
... is linguistic, poetic, and narrative
... is emotional and feeling
... has a name and an identity
... has a personality

“Want to know what I think the next UI break-
throughs will be? Here are two, both of which can
be considered a return to fundamentals:
1. Command line languages;
2. Physicality: the return to physical devices,
where we control things by physical body
movement, by turning, moving, and manipulating
appropriate mechanical devices.”
- Don Norman, 2007

The Human
Interface

The Human Interface
Literally, it’s about the ergonomics of the
body and the mind.

The Human Interface
Literally, it’s about the ergonomics of the
body and the mind.
Metaphorically, it’s about removing
abstraction from interactions

Lessons so far:
1. Don’t replace humans.
2. Don’t replicate humans.

Lessons so far:
1. Don’t replace humans.
2. Don’t replicate humans.
How?

Lessons so far:
1. Don’t replace humans.
2. Don’t replicate humans.
How?
Behavior!

Lessons so far:
Not about mimicking human behavior, but
about reflecting it.
Software that mirrors behavior:
• Chat and IM reflect the immediacy of communication
• Social networks mirror the structure of the special
primacy we give our own friends (vs. everyone else)
• Twitter reflects the semi-social “cocktail party” model
of social interaction.

Paul Dourish: “Where the Action Is”

Reeves & Nass: “The Media Equation”

Ergonomics for the Mind
(cups designed by the “other” Masahiro Mori)

Anthopomorphism

Human-ness

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
The Quality
Without a Name
(QWAN)
aka
The Phenomenon
of Life

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
1. Levels of Scale
Fifteen 2. Strong Centers
3. Thick Boundaries
Properties 4. Alternating Repetition
5. Positive Space
of Living 6. Good Shape
Structures 7. Local Symmetries
8. Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
9. Contrast
10. Gradients
11. Roughness
12. Echoes
13. The Void
14. Simplicity and Inner Calm
15. Non-Separateness

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
1. Levels of Scale
Fifteen 2. Strong Centers
3. Thick Boundaries
Properties 4. Alternating Repetition
5. Positive Space
of Living 6. Good Shape
Structures 7. Local Symmetries
8. Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
9. Contrast
10. Gradients
11. Roughness
12. Echoes
13. The Void
14. Simplicity and Inner Calm
15. Non-Separateness

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
1. Levels of Scale
Fifteen 2. Strong Centers
3. Thick Boundaries
Properties 4. Alternating Repetition
5. Positive Space
of Living 6. Good Shape
Structures 7. Local Symmetries
8. Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
9. Contrast
10. Gradients
11. Roughness
12. Echoes
13. The Void
14. Simplicity and Inner Calm
15. Non-Separateness

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
1. Levels of Scale
Fifteen 2. Strong Centers
3. Thick Boundaries
Properties 4. Alternating Repetition
5. Positive Space
of Living 6. Good Shape
Structures 7. Local Symmetries
8. Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
9. Contrast
10. Gradients
11. Roughness
12. Echoes
13. The Void
14. Simplicity and Inner Calm
15. Non-Separateness

Human-ness (Christopher Alexander)
1. Levels of Scale
Fifteen 2. Strong Centers
3. Thick Boundaries
Properties 4. Alternating Repetition
5. Positive Space
of Living 6. Good Shape
Structures 7. Local Symmetries
8. Deep Interlock and Ambiguity
9. Contrast
10. Gradients
11. Roughness
12. Echoes
13. The Void
14. Simplicity and Inner Calm
15. Non-Separateness

Katherine Isbister: Better Game Characters by Design

Human-ness (Katherine Isbister)
External Internal
Characteristics of Characteristics of
Personhood Personhood
• Bodies • Agreeableness
• Faces • Dominance
• Voices • Openness
• Conscientiousness
• Neuroticism

The Three Qualia
of the Human
Interface

Three Qualia of the Human Interface:
Sentience
Intimacy
Personality

Sentience

Sentience: The ability to feel or
perceive subjectively.
The system is able to collect
robust sensory data from the
world, and make sense of that
data.

The Human Sensorium

Voice Recognition

Image and Face Recognition

Nintendo Wii

Not always robust
Not all sensory data need be robust to a system to make
extremely intelligent deductions from the data.

Not always robust
Not all sensory data need be robust to a system to make
extremely intelligent deductions from the data.

Not always robust
Not all sensory data need be robust to a system to make
extremely intelligent deductions from the data.

Not always robust
Not all sensory data need be robust to a system to make
extremely intelligent deductions from the data.

Project Natal (Microsoft)

Project Natal (Microsoft)

Project Natal (Microsoft)

Artificial Intelligences

The Uncanny Valley: Sentience

The Uncanny Valley: Sentience
Creepy stalker

The Uncanny Valley: Sentience
Observant and conscientious
Creepy stalker

Intimacy

2. Intimacy: The quality of being close,
comfortable, and familiar.
The system can interface with
humans extremely closely, up
close and personal, and with
our glad consent.

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Intimacy
Intimacy can be facilitated with and through machines:
• Emotional Intelligence
• Proximity
• Presence
• Social Web
• Personal Informatics
• Multiplayer Games
• Real Time Web
• Conversations

Machines that talk back

Machines that talk back

Conversations

Dialogue! Dialog?
Conversations

Politeness
Clifford Nass:
“Design solutions are often social solutions.”
Tom Armitage:
“The applications and tools we are building are,
whether we like it or not, defining the manners of
the web today. We should be careful to consider the
behaviors we wish to reinforce, and those we don't.”

Politeness
• Don't reject
• Don't interrupt
• Say hello and goodbye
• Use someone's name
• Look people in the eye
• Respond in kind
• Respect differences

Politeness Praise
Conversations

Identity

“You are not your job, you're not
how much money you have in the
bank, you're not the car you drive,
you're not the contents of your
wallet, you're not your fucking
khakis.”
- Tyler Durden, “Fight Club”

“You are not your job, you're not
how much money you have in the
bank, you're not the car you drive,
you're not the contents of your
wallet, you're not your fucking
khakis.”
No! You are your fucking khakis!
- Tyler Durden, “Fight Club”

Personality

Personality: The sum of an individual
person’s mental, emotional,
behavioral, and social characteristics.
The system has a distinctive
character, with recognizable
human cultural and
psychological behaviors.

We see faces

Facial Fidelity

The Uncanny Valley: Faces

Personality
Characteristics

The Four Humours

Myers-Briggs

Interpersonal Circumplex

Interpersonal Circumplex
Agreeableness
(Communion)
Dominance
(Agency)

Interpersonal Circumplex

Interpersonal Circumplex

Voice

Voice = Content Strategy

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

What’s in a Name
Maximillian Linus

The Uncanny Valley: Names
Bob, Jeeves

The Uncanny Valley: Names
Bob, Jeeves
TiVo, iPhone

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

Personality
Characters:
• More than personality: Culture, Style
• Casting
• Names
• Personas
• Storytelling and Themes

Brands

Broken Personalities

Conclusions

The
Human
Interface

The Uncanny Valley
Unthreatening
Appearance
Annoying
Personality

Things to try
• Use pronouns for your product: he, she.
• Give your application a name
• Do more visceral prototypes, things that have weight
and that you can touch.
• Collaborate with new disciplines
• Go to a different field’s conference. Go to the Game
Developer’s Conference, or to SIGGRAPH.
• Tell more stories! Bring character-driven screenwriting
and dramaturgy to your experience design.

If we don’t humanize
our products, our
products will
mechanize us.

Thanks!
Christopher Fahey
@chrisfahey
#ixd10 #human
graphpaper.com