Author Archives: aaron

Retro Friday: The Sounds of Technology

In this era of web and app development, we pay lots of attention to how things look, how things feel — but not much, these days, to how things sound. Yet there are so many iconic sounds of technology that just don’t exist anymore, or are dying fast.

One of the most popular, of course, is/was “You’ve Got Mail” from AOL — so popular that it spawned a romantic comedy with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan! Throughout the 1990s, though, sounds were a key part of many software releases.

Think, for instance, about the lowly startup sound. Many combinations of Mac hardware and operating system gave different startup sounds (and different crash sounds, too — although the screeching tires were heart-stopping enough). It was followed so closely as to have a web collection! Windows iterations matured similarly, from the clunky Windows 3.1 sound to the zen Windows 95 startup and beyond. Again, there’s a web collection to allow you stroll memory lane.

But even the hardware had sounds of its own, even if it was merely a byproduct of how it worked. I still think fondly of the sounds of the old Epson FX-80 dot matrix printer — a printer that was so popular that you can STILL purchase ribbons online. Hearing the sound of the print head sweeping across the page and then loudly depositing dots of ink before doing it all again just signified that you were DOING something, you were creating something. Far more satisfying than the quiet fan and rollers of a laser printer today. (Although you’ll notice I’m saying nothing about relative quality of output.)

Why don’t we consider sounds as key interface features much anymore? Perhaps it’s because technology is used so much more in a crowd these days; it can be a little too disruptive if buttons click or startup comes with a chime.

But listening to the Museum of Endangered Sounds and other old sound repositories, I can’t help feeling like we’ve lost a little something along the way.

How People Defeated the Open Web

The Internet began, first and foremost, as a collaboration tool. ARPAnet was designed for scientists to be able to connect with each other via asynchronous text message (aka e-mail) and change the world with discoveries.

Then, as networks of networks began cropping up and coming together, the promise got even broader. By the 1980s and early 1990s, you could e-mail someone (or many someones) all over the world even if you weren’t a scientist — even if you were a home hobbyist with a slow modem dialing up into the night.

The promise was great — the Internet was a communication tool that could Democratize, that could bring populations and communities together. When the web came along, it wasn’t very long until the technology was adapted for bulletin boards (web-based BBSes, essentially) and threaded discussion systems.

It seemed as though the promise was becoming real — anybody with a computer could participate in open discussions about a variety of topics, learning and sharing knowledge along the way.

Today, though, where are we? There are some pockets of such discussion around. But the far more common trend is the other direction. As an example, yesterday, Popular Science announced they were shutting off comments altogether on their site.

Their logic? Comments were bad for science. Why? Because anybody with a computer could participate in open discussions about a variety of topics, not learning but sharing opinion along the way.

Almost the same as the promise, but not exactly. And herein lies the conundrum: Everybody is entitled to their opinion, and in our country at least, they’re entitled to speak it. But there is no entitlement to a forum, and no entitlement to having other people listen. When we are increasingly self-selecting our information sources to conform to our own worldview, we have less and less patience for viewpoints diametrically opposed to our own.

So what does this have to do with technology? Part of it is unintended consequences — building a system that allows for basically unfettered communication in order to break down barriers for learning also breaks down barriers for opinion.

But another part is a reminder about technology’s limits. Few would argue (certainly not me) that the fault here is the technology, or that widespread networked computing is a bad thing. Rather, there’s something more societal that gives us values that permit (if not encourage) anonymous sniping and/or closed-minded trolling.

And there’s not much that technology can do about that.

Reading the Landscape

Sometimes, it’s useful to pause for a moment and look around to scan the environment. Of course, we help our clients do that all the time, because it’s a key part of the design process. But it’s not so often that we do it for ourselves.

When our developers got started in this business, the landscape consisted of a handful of big companies providing services on mainframes and a few types of microcomputer. Then the desktop computer revolution arrived, and things exploded. Some big companies failed or broke up (hello, Ma Bell and Unisys), and many smaller players came into the space.

When the Internet revolution happened a decade or so later, the process repeated. Today, with the ubiquity of the technology and the near-universal need for companies and brands to leverage web, mobile, and social technologies, demand is high. And so are the suppliers.

We recently conducted a more in-depth look at who (besides us) is providing quality services out there — and who, ahem, was providing less-good services, shall we say. The results were not too surprising, but remarkable nonetheless.

While there is still a coterie of small providers and one-person shops, the largest segment of the community is more the medium-sized agency (like Square Lines, really), combining anywhere from a few to a couple of dozen professionals in the company. At the larger end, there are relatively few companies of great size.

Given the lessons of history, it will be interesting to see what happens to this group. If (or, more likely, when) we come across the next disruptive technology, it seems likely that some of the bigger players (and perhaps a fair amount of the medium-sized ones) will be in trouble.

This is why keeping up with emerging technologies is such a big part of what we do, and why it is a big part of what other successful firms do as well. As the paths of the past tell us, those who don’t are destined to fail.

Interface Lessons Everywhere

I was out at a restaurant a while back, and it had pretty interesting decor – a hip, modernist kind of thing. Pretty to look at.

At one point, I needed to use the restroom, so I went and did that. When it came time to wash my hands, though, I was stumped. I mean, I think of myself as a reasonably intelligent guy, but I could not figure out how to turn the water on. There was a lever. I tried lifting – no dice. I tried pushing – nope. Side-to-side? Sorry.

After what seemed like an eternity, I discovered that it was a twisting motion – something not hinted at anywhere.

It reminded me of user interface design — it was Don Norman who popularized the idea of affordances and constraint, and this was a prime example. Of it done badly, that is.

But those kinds of lessons really are everywhere. When you rent a car and have to figure out how to open the trunk from the driver’s seat. Or you go to a restaurant (can you tell I like to eat out?) and open the menu. What’s obvious? What’s not?

It is, perhaps, the curse of a designer that everywhere you turn, you notice design — good and bad. But it’s also a benefit for everyone, and we encourage our clients, when thinking about design ideas, to do the same. Look around you every day and think about what you like and what you don’t.

Context matters also, of course. The design for a menu at a pub will look quite different than one for an upscale French restaurant, for instance. So the next time you’re walking, biking or riding down a neighborhood street, look at the retail storefronts. How are they representing themselves? Are they using design and “interface” to their advantage?

Because the lessons are everywhere.