When Will Interfaces Catch Up To Today’s Tech?

Alternate title: Why Can’t Apple Just Design, Like, Everything?

Interfaces, as I’ve said many times before, are the meeting point of user and information, the mechanism by which the function of an electronic device is realised. And this Christmas, two presents exchanged in my family got me thinking about the place of interface in today’s ‘technoscape’. One was a basic Sony stereo; the other was an original Blackberry Pearl. The first was a gift for my 69 year old father; while my dad is by no means a technophile, he knows enough to work a tv or radio or even do some basic ‘surfing’. With this particular system, however, he was baffled trying to figure out simple things such as how to use the radio or get rid of the ‘shuffle’ function on the CD player. It seemed absolutely ludicrous to me that it took a geek like myself to first figure out and then explain such basic functionality to an average user. What struck me most about the stereo was how little thought had been put into the experience of using the device. The design seemed ‘function-driven’ – as if the engineers responsible focused only on what the device could do and then added buttons based on that approach.

The other gift was my new Blackberry Pearl (thanks big bro!). In the case of the smartphone, there was clearly a great deal of thought put into the end-user experience. The ‘pearl’ trackball is great, the context-sensitive menu button works well and you can fine-tune very specific options such as different tones and notifications for emails, SMS’s and even Facebook messages – in addition to clever options for when the phone is and is not in its holster. While I don’t think the Blackberry interface is as elegant or intuitive as Apple’s iPhone or iPod – it is doesn’t have the same ‘pick up and play’ feel – the simple fact that it feels ‘designed’ rather than just thrown together like the Sony stereo made a remarkable difference to how I use and conceive of the device as a whole.

The point is that technology is currently outpacing interface. Whether enormously complex in-car navigation systems or multi-function media devices like the Playstation 3 or iPhone, the more intricate technology becomes the more crucial a seamless, efficient and intuitive method of interface is. And while devices like the PS3 or iPhone do a relatively good job with interface (particularly in the case of the iPhone) the small, less significant tech we use on a day-to-day basis – from landline phones to stereos to kitchen appliances – is stuck in interface designs from ten or twenty years ago. It is for this reason I wished that Apple might design everything – Apple have had a relentless focus on the user experience, where the process of using an iPod or iPhone is as important to the design team as what the products actually do. The increasing ubiquity of technology into the most mundane aspects of our lives means that companies really need to start thinking of interface as equally important to function. After all, if you either can’t or just don’t want to use the damn thing, it could be the greatest piece of tech in the world – and no-one would ever know.