Interaction design

In the field of ‘interaction design’ it is common to to define the interaction between user and product. This can be done in all kinds of qualifications; gentle, subtle, complex, straightforward etc. Taking the user as a starting point the product gets defined and questions like ‘which functions will the user need’ and ‘how to they fit in the life of the user’ are answered. In the end the designer knows exactly how the user will operate, use and understand the product. We would like to add another dimension to this spectrum called ‘design for politeness’ adopted from software design.

What is design for politeness?

Design for politeness is bringing societal norms and agreements back into product design. It is a norm to shake hands when we meet new people and we consider it normal if someone informs us if he can’t make it to an appointment. Standards are part of our culture and helps us know how to behave amongst other. Now consider some examples of products;

“A printer who just stopped printing has a red flashing light next to a paper icon”

“A computer saying ‘please wait’ when installing a program”

“A copier giving a blinking error light”

“A blinking ’service’ light of the car dashboard”

“Internet explorer asking if you want to remember the password for this site, every time you use it!”

Al examples seem perfectly normal, they inform the user that ’something’ is wrong or that the user has to take a ‘certain’ action. But it does not specify this at all, it leaves users in the dark in a rude way. How would we react if such things would happen with other people. Nor does it anticipate us, the car, copier could have known service is in order in a few days. The same goes for internet explorer, it should remember that I (me, this particular user) does not want to store passwords.

If I ask someone to  do a task but he just stops halfway and does not inform me why he stopped. Normal? No, we consider it normal that he tells he is sick, has too many projects or that he has a problem.In case of the printer, it could have known that there was not enough paper to execute this print job. Also if the computer has software on it the program says ‘please fill paper’ or ‘out of paper’. And there we get at the fundamental core why most products / services are impolite. Most engineers / designers think that adding ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ is polite but in fact it is a way of saying, sorry no can do and good luck with that, is that polite? No. A polite answer would be; ‘your print job has started but to complete it you might want to refill the paper supply as there is not enough paper to complete it’.

How to design for politeness

The concept of design for politeness comes from Nass and Reeves, who have defined four basic principles that define the rules for a polite interaction: quality, quantity, relevance and clarity. Cooper in has book ‘The inmates are running the asylum’ has fine tuned it and unraveled into many aspects. Although the book is written for software it has many truths that also hold ground for product design. Cooper defines that polite software is;

Interested in the user Most applications don’t remember who you are, nor the settings you prefer. It doesn’t care at all. A good example is the cash withdrawal machines who directly ask you if you want to take $50 besides the normal menu because that is the amount you normally take. It remembers your preferences. Computer programs and products should remembers all chosen preferences so  you won’t have to set it each time again. (Remember the password example) Forgetting earlier chosen preferences is considered impolite

Deferential to the user Programs should serve the people, so it can give suggestions but is should not tell what to do. Yes it is appreciated if a program notifies me about the fact that I forgot to fill in a field, but if I decide to send it anyway I want to send it, without arguments.

Forthcoming Most products and software applications do exactly as they are told without looking forward. Consider the earlier printer example, if I want to print a large document it could inform me about other jobs in the printing que or that I don’t have enough paper.

Common sense Too often we find functions on products and software we don’t use or want at all. How they got there is a mystery, but the use of common sense is still powerful.

Anticipates my needs It should know my needs. My browser should preload the pages that are linked from that site so I don’t have to wait for the page to load.

Responsive Programs and products should be responsive, the sound level of a mobile phones for instance should respond to the sound level of the environment. What is more embarrassing  then a phone that starts ringing in a silent library? It should vibrate in such a situation while it should ring on its loudest when you are in concert.

Taciturn about is personal problems Programs and products should stop wining about all that is not relevant. When I am working on a computer I don’t have to know how fast the computer is working or what the data usage of the internet connection is. It should stop distracting me from my work with all sorts of dialog boxes (I have unused pictograms on my desktop, crisis!) Programs should have some authority to fix problems on its own.

Well informed Products and software should not offer options that are currently not available, it should know what is going on. Why do programs at the installation ask for the operation system I am using, it is there!

Perceptive I always choose to see my calender in a five day week format, after a few times one would expect it would notice this behavior. No, it doesn’t it will show me my calender every time again in a seven day week format.

Self-condifent Products and software should have some confidence, it cannot be fully depended on its user. Talk the popular example of windows that reconfirm if I really wanted to delete that file. Instead it should delete the file and if it is unsure if the file should be deleted or not it can decide to keep it a bit longer in the recycle bin, just to be sure.

Stays focussed It should never forget why it’s there; to help me achieve my goals as fast as possible. So if I choose clean my hard disk, I don’t want a whole list of items I want to clean. If I want it to clean very good, or quickly etc.

Fudgable Often products and especially software looses its flexibility when manual processes get computerized. Polite software can still be altered / changed if neccesary.

Gives instant gratification You should directly benefit from the product. Instead of having to specify what and how you want to see your television channels you want to turn on the television and see that it automatically searches all the channels. You can order the channels to your likings later.

Trusthworthy Over time we should be able to trust our products. Instead of having to fear to loose our work all the time we should be able to trust the computer that he has made automatic backups for us.

Conclusion

By adopting ‘design for politeness’ designers not only think about the needs of users but also about accepted standards in our society. Products have to interact in a polite way just as people do with each other.

It could drive the design process, especially when it is combined with personas. One could ask during design decisions if the persona would think this or that product behavior is considered polite or not.