In a previous article, I equated using a physical keyboard in tandem with the touchscreen interface of the iPad as a User Interaction Distortion.
Sine Wave
Let us say that User Interaction is like a waveform. A nice smooth waveform is a sine wave (pictured left). Smooth changes from all positions. A good user interaction should be smooth and flow from all points to the next no matter how basic or advanced they are.
Distortion in the audio world is when the signal becomes altered and more “harsh” from it’s intended sound. More jagged edges, more randomness, and less commonality between states.
Distorted Sine Wave
Now, many of us musicians spend lots of time, money, and thought into creating distortion and this holds true to interaction design. If we all just kept to the same boring sine wave, we would never progress. But, just as in the audio world, there is good distortion and bad distortion. In the audio world we call the wonderfully soft and scruffy distortion felt when an analog tube gets overloaded “warm”. When done right, this is a beautiful thing. On the other hand, when you overload a digital device you get what is called “digital clipping” which, generally speaking, has absolutely no pleasant qualities to it.
This is often the case with User Interaction Distortion. Abrupt alterations in the modes we are engaging often cause a jarring experience that is unpleasant and does not progress the user towards a more profitable end goal by teaching them new interaction models.
We should aim for clean signals and reach for the warmth of tube distortion when exploring new Uster Interaction Modality.
Let us avoid User Interaction Distortion.
