Re: the uncanny valley of UI design

Bill Higgins has an interesting thought piece entitled "The uncanny valley of User Interface Design"
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First, thank you Bill for finally explaining why I walked out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988... it ultimately lead to a rather painful breakup ;-). It also got me thinking philosophically, which is a rarity these days.

I find it interesting that as a designer who appreciates novel and innovative approaches, it’s apparently ineluctable human nature to grow comfortable with the familiar. Perhaps as we age the disappointments of technology for its own sake accumulate and we begin to grow intolerant of what seems to be a declining signal-to-noise ratio in the deluge of experiences out there.

The first time I saw the Flash mastery of Joshua Davis I was truly inspired, and yet, when given the choice, I routinely choose the HTML site variant over Flash. As many comments have pointed out, the innovation question is an obvious one with no easy answer.

It seems to me that finding a balance between experimentation and codified communication is at the core of what it means to be a designer. What’s appropriate? In the right environment the 90s-typographic excess of designers like David Carson felt edgy and fresh. Used indiscriminately, on detail-heavy annual reports, it was a disaster.

We need to push the envelope, but ultimately keep in mind the envelope has to be read by someone or it never gets delivered. If you have the resources, hire a user researcher, he/she will keep your design honest.