1. caseorganic.com
Designing
Calm Technology
Amber Case | @caseorganic
Director, Esri R&D Center Portland
!
Webdagene
16 Oct 2014
Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Norway

2. caseorganic.com
50 billion devices
will be online by
2020. -Cisco

3. caseorganic.com
Sound good?

4. caseorganic.com
Consider…

5. caseorganic.com
The "Smart" Watch

6. caseorganic.com
The "Smart" Fridge

7. caseorganic.com
The Dystopian Kitchen of the Future

8. caseorganic.com
An era of interruptive
technology

9. caseorganic.com
We need a
Calm Technology

10. caseorganic.com
XEROX PARC: mid-90s
Mark Weiser John Seeley Brown

11. caseorganic.com

12. caseorganic.com
Technology shouldn’t require all
of our attention, just some of it,
and only when necessary.

13. caseorganic.com
Empowering the Periphery
Calm technology makes use of our
peripheral attention, allowing us
to be aware of more things with
less cognitive overhead.

14. caseorganic.com
A calm technology will move easily from the
periphery of our attention, to the center, and back:
!
Things in the periphery are attuned to by the large
portion of our brains devoted to peripheral (sensory)
processing. By placing things in the periphery we are
able to attune to many more things than we could if
everything had to be at the center. Thus the periphery
is informing without overburdening.
!
- Weiser, Brown, The Coming Age of Calm Technology

15. caseorganic.com
I. Examples of
Calm Technology

16. caseorganic.com
A Tea Kettle

17. caseorganic.com
A little tech goes
a long way…

18. caseorganic.com
Toilet Occupied Sign

19. caseorganic.com
Light-Based
Status System
!
Aaron Parecki
@aaronpk 2014
!
connected to Beeminder

20. Weather Status
Lighting
!
Aaron Parecki
@aaronpk 2014
!
Hue Lightbulb connected
to a weather report
caseorganic.com

21. caseorganic.com
II. Designing Calm
Technology

22. Two Principles of Calm Technology
caseorganic.com
1. A technology should inform and encalm
2. Make use of the periphery

23. caseorganic.com
Design for people first
1. Machines shouldn't act like humans
2. Humans shouldn't act like machines
3. Amplify the best part of each

24. caseorganic.com
Technology can
communicate,
but doesn’t need
to speak

25. caseorganic.com
The Roomba Robotic
Vacuum Cleaner :)

26. caseorganic.com
LUMOBack Smart Posture Sensor
Buzzes you when
you exhibit poor
posture.

27. caseorganic.com
Sleep Cycle
Sleep Tracker
and Alarm
Clock
sleepcycle.com

28. caseorganic.com
Sleep Cycle
Sleep Tracker
and Alarm
Clock
sleepcycle.com

29. Create ambient awareness through
different senses
1. Haptics vs. auditory alerts (haptic compass)
2. Light status vs. full display (on/off)
3. Positive or negative tones (home electronics)
4. Transparency (inner-office windows)
caseorganic.com

30. caseorganic.com
Jawbone Up

31. caseorganic.com

32. caseorganic.com
III. Calm Technology
and Privacy

33. caseorganic.com
What is Privacy?

34. Privacy is the ability to have control
over where your content goes
and who it is accessed by.
caseorganic.com

35. caseorganic.com
Privacy can also be a feeling or
perception of security.
!
This perception of security can be
designed.

36. caseorganic.com

37. caseorganic.com
Privacy is the ability
not to be surprised.

38. caseorganic.com
How can we design for privacy? !
1. Temporary Solution (Privacy by Design)
2. Longer term Solution (Data Ownership)
Privacy by Design: Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Information & Privacy Commissioner, Ontario, Canada. http://www.privacybydesign.ca/

39. Contextual Privacy
Instagram, Facebook, Foursquare
do this well.
!
Expose privacy controls with every
piece of content that can be created
or shared
caseorganic.com

40. Half of privacy is perceived
The idea of privacy is socially created and
attached to behavioral norms.
Behavior can change when norms change.
caseorganic.com

41. caseorganic.com
Privacy and Norms

42. caseorganic.com
Feature Phones

43. caseorganic.com
Feature Phones
•Limited Features
•Text and Voice Calls
•Few apps
•Became widespread over
time

44. caseorganic.com
The arrival of smartphone cameras

45. caseorganic.com
Google
Glass

46. caseorganic.com
What was
different?
•Design and product launch
•Developer on-boarding failure
•Secrecy/Mystery/Exclusivity
Closed system
Too many features
Price

47. caseorganic.com
Results
•Reduced play
•Confusion
•Speculation
•Fear

48. caseorganic.com
Questions people asked me when I
wore Google Glass
caseorganic.com

49. caseorganic.com
Compare to iPhone
Developer Launch
• Development tools available
before new hardware/OS released
• $99 fee
• Launch: many apps
• People had phones already

50. caseorganic.com
Trying to "Calm"
the device
Headbanding: “moving
one's Glass before entering
an establishment"
caseorganic.com

51. caseorganic.com
Success
Narrative (formerly Memoto)
http://getnarrative.com/

52. caseorganic.com
Why?
•Designed to be "calm"
•Built upon previous products (iteration)
•Clearly defined. (Lifelogging device).
•Not at eye level. Small friendly rounded
corners
•Not immediate (download later)

53. caseorganic.com
Great design allows people to
accomplish their goals in the
least amount of moves

54. Calm Technology allows people to
accomplish the same goals with the
least amount of mental cost
caseorganic.com

55. caseorganic.com
A person's primary task
should not be computing, but
being human.

56. caseorganic.com
More at calmtechnology.com!

57. caseorganic.com
Thank you very much!
calmtechnology.com
caseorganic.com
Amber Case | @caseorganic
Director, Esri R&D Center Portland
!
Webdagene
16 Oct 2014
Oslo Spektrum, Oslo, Sweden