Calm Technology

Book excerpt: How can you design technology that becomes a part of a user’s life and not a distraction from it? This practical book explores the concept of calm technology, a method for smoothly capturing a user’s attention only when necessary, while calmly remaining in the background most of the time. You’ll learn how to design products that work well, launch well, are easy to support, easy to use, and remain unobtrusive. Author Amber Case presents ideas first introduced by researchers at Xerox PARC in 1995, and explains how they apply to our current technology landscape, especially the Internet of Things. This book is ideal for UX and product designers, managers, creative directors, and developers. You’ll learn: The importance and challenge of designing technology that respects our attention Principles of calm design—peripheral attention, context, and ambient awareness Calm communication patterns—improving attention through a variety of senses Exercises for improving existing products through calm technology Principles and patterns of calm technology for companies and teams The origins of calm technology at Xerox PARC