Title: In the case of interactivity, we’re still at the phase of irrational enthusiasm
Context: Wolfram Research co-founder Theodore Gray talks eloquently about the interactive design of e-books. But he could be talking about any interactive design discipline really.
Synopsis: Books have been static artifacts for, well, ever. But not anymore. Kindles, iPads and a whole host of other multitouch enabled devices with high resolution screens have taken the frozen words of the traditional book and freed them from their paper bonds. Now all books can be interactive outside the playground of one’s imagination, allowing readers to manipulate the book’s very structure to enable an enhanced reading experience. Or so the designers of ebooks think. The ebook is a classic case of designers being enthralled with their new playthings to the point that the whole enterprise risks falling in upon itself within an orgy of pointless interactivity that adds nothing to the overall experience. The most important, and indeed hardest, thing that any mature design discipline must learn – often times the hard way – is restraint. Watching a nascent field of design struggle to come to grips with this fact can be instructive to even the most seasoned design veterans.
Best Bit: “Interactivity for its own sake is a bad thing: It should always be serving communication.”
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