less humans, more robots

The ubiquity of frustrating, unhelpful software interfaces has motivated decades of research into “Human-Computer Interaction.” In this paper, Bret Victor suggests that the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided. For a majority subset of software, called “information software,” He argues that interactivity is actually a curse for users and a crutch for designers, and users’ goals can be better satisfied through other means.

#Information software design can be seen as the design of context-sensitive information graphics. Victor demonstrate the crucial role of information graphic design, and present three approaches to context-sensitivity, of which interactivity is the last resort. After discussing the cultural changes necessary for these design ideas to take root, He addresses their implementation. The essay also  outline a tool which may allow designers to create data-dependent graphics with no engineering assistance, and also outline a platform which may allow an unprecedented level of implicit context-sharing between independent programs. The essay concludes by asserting that the principles of information software design will become critical as technology improves.

#Although this paper presents a number of concrete design and engineering ideas, the larger intent is to introduce a “unified theory” of information software design, and provide inspiration and direction for progressive designers who suspect that the world of software isn’t as flat as they’ve been told. 

Contents

What is software?

• Of software and sorcery. Is “interaction design” the cure for frustrating software, or the disease itself?
• What is software design? Software is not a new and mysterious medium, but a fusion of two old ones.
• What is software for? People turn to software to learn, to create, and to communicate.
• Manipulation software design is hard. Creating software for creating is tricky business.
• Most software is information software. People spend more time learning than creating.

Graphic design

• Information software design is graphic design. People learn by looking. Looks are all that matters.
• Demonstration: Showing the data. Redesigning Amazon as an information graphic.
• Demonstration: Arranging the data. Redesigning Yahoo! Movies as an information graphic.

Context-sensitivity

• Context-sensitive information graphics. Software trumps print by showing only what’s relevant.
• Inferring context from the environment. The outside world can suggest what’s relevant.
• Inferring context from history. Memories of the past can suggest what’s relevant.

Interactivity

• Interactivity considered harmful. The user can suggest what’s relevant, but only as a last resort.
• Reducing interaction. Approaches to easing the pain.
• How did we get here? The popular focus on interactivity is a vestige of another era.

Intermission

• Case study: Train schedules. Designing a trip planner as an information graphic.
• Demonstration: Trip planning redux. Redesigning Southwest Airlines as an information graphic.

Changing the world

• Designing the information software revolution. Five steps from artifice to art form.
• Designing a design tool. Dynamic graphics without the programming.
• Engineering inference from history. How software can learn from the past.
• Engineering inference from the environment. A platform for implicit communication between software.
• Information and the world of tomorrow. Why all this matters.

1. Globalization is not (all there is to) progress.

2. It is better to be right than to be contrarian.

3. Secrets exist.

4. Capitalism and competition are antonyms, not synonyms.

5. People lie.

6. Much of life is a power law.

7. A bad plan is better than no plan. A good plan is even better.

8. Foundations matter. Beginnings are special.

9. Founders are different.

10.  Find a frontier and go for it.

There is something importantly singular about each new thing. There is a mini singularity whenever you start a company or make a key life decision. In a very real sense, the life of every person is a singularity. 

The obvious question is what you should do with your singularity. The obvious answer, unfortunately, has been to follow the well-trodden path. You are constantly encouraged to play it safe and be conventional. The future, we are told, is just probabilities and statistics.You are a statistic. 

But the obvious answer is wrong. That is selling yourself short. There are still many large white spaces on the map of human knowledge. You can go discover them. So do it. Get out there and fill in the blank spaces. Every single moment is a possibility to go to these new places and explore them. 

There is perhaps no specific time that is necessarily right to start your company or start your life. But some times and some moments seem more auspicious than others. Now is such a moment. If we don’t take charge and usher in the future—if you don’t take charge of your life—there is the sense that no one else will.

The Biggest Problem in Design [by Julie Zhuo, Product design director @ Facebook] 

Good Design is Honest [Omar El Amri, Computer Scientist] 

Wasted Talent - Arranging deck chairs on the Mars rover. [Matt] 

Do Tomorrow What You Decide Today [ Anders Thoresson] 

What kind of a designer are you? [ Tuhin Kumar, Product Designer @Facebook ] 

How, When and Where Will The First Truly Great Digital Design Studio Emerge? [Murat Mutlu, Designer]